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The focus of the World Health Day this year is on the
safety of health facilities and the readiness of health workers to treat
those affected by emergencies. Ensuring that the health facilities are
not impaired and its staff function at their maximum capacity in the
aftermath of disasters such as floods, earthquakes, cyclones and even terror
attacks and major accidents, can help minimize or prevent casualties.
The health centers and their staff are lifelines for the
people affected by disasters. Events around the world in 2009 will highlight
successes, advocate for safe health facility design and construction and
build momentum for widespread emergency preparedness - to save lives and
improve global health.
The World Health Day
theme is in consonance with the focus of the biennial World Disaster
Reduction Campaign (2008-2009) for “Safe Hospitals in emergencies:
Reduce Risk, Protect Health Facilities, Save
Lives.”
The goal of raising
awareness on this issue is to effect changes that will ensure that health
facilities and services are able to function in the aftermath of emergencies
and disasters, protect lives of patients, serve the affected population and
keep health workers safe.
This would entail ensuring the structural
resilience of health structures - large or small, urban or rural - with the
existing technologies; keeping the equipment and supplies of these health
facilities intact should an emergency happen; improving the preparedness and
risk reduction capacity of health workers, and involving communities in this
effort. This can be achieved by health sector professionals
collaborating with experts from other fields such as urban planners,
architects and engineers. Preventive actions are cost-effective compared to the costs incurred
in case of a disaster.
World Health Day is celebrated every year on April 7 as
per the directive of the First World Health Assembly in 1948. Each year, a
theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area of
concern for WHO. World Health Day is a worldwide opportunity to focus on key
public health issues that affect the international community and launches
longer-term advocacy programmes
that continue well beyond April 7.
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 Press Releases
Events
 Hospital/Trauma Centre and
Awareness in Public, AIIMS
Orientation Seminar & Curtain Raiser Programme on Disaster Management, Delhi University
Mass Awareness Event
Brief Report
on World Health Day Events
Related links
South-East Asia Regional
Office
WHO HQ, Geneva
World Health
Day Archives
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