Throughout the year there are different ephemeris of great relevance. One of the most important occurs April 7 because it is World Health Day and each edition has a different slogan. In this 2022 the campaign is titled “Our planet, our health” because it seeks to achieve a global vision of what is happening around the planet and the possible consequences that may arise.
The serious situation in the world today
In this sense, the World Health Organization (WHO) shares an alarming fact. The 99 percent of people on the planet breathe unhealthy air, coming mainly from the burning of fossil fuels. Due to global warming, mosquitoes are spreading disease farther and faster than ever before. Extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, land degradation and water scarcity cause displacement of people and have negative effects on their health.
In addition, pollution and plastics reach the deepest abysses of our oceans, to the top of the highest mountains, and have found their way into our food chain and bloodstream. Systems that produce highly processed and unhealthy foods and beverages are fueling a wave of obesity, causing cancers and heart disease to rise, and generating up to a third of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. This health and social crisis compromises people’s ability to take control of their health and their lives.
“The climate crisis is a health crisis: the same unsustainable choices that are deteriorating our planet are killing humans,” said WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “We need transformative solutions to wean the world off its addiction to fossil fuels, reimagine well-being-focused economies and societies, and safeguard the health of the planet, on which human health depends.”
It also mentions that the COVID-19 pandemic has made visible the flaws of inequity around the world, and has highlighted the urgency of creating sustainable well-being societies that do not violate ecological limits and ensure that all people have access to tools, systems, policies and environments that save and improve people’s lives.
The WHO Manifesto to ensure a healthy and environmentally friendly recovery from COVID-19 prescribes that nature be protected and preserved as a source of human health; investment in essential services, from water and sanitation to clean energy in health facilities; ensuring a rapid and healthy energy transition; that healthy and sustainable food systems are promoted; that healthy and livable cities be built; and to stop using taxpayers’ money to finance polluting sectors.
The Geneva Charter for Wellbeing underlines the global commitments that need to be made to achieve equitable health and social outcomes now and for future generations, without destroying the health of our planet.
Through the campaign of World Health DayWHO calls on governments, organizations, businesses and citizens to share the actions they are taking to protect the planet and human health.
Goals from previous years
For now, we share a graphic with the slogan that World Health Day has had during the last decade. In each edition it has had a different angle although in the end the objective of promoting correct habits is the same.
In this sense, in previous years it has sought to promote universal health coverage to offer free medical care to all people. In addition, the nursing staff has also been recognized for their participation within the health union. While in 2016 the objective was to redouble the fight against diabetes because to date at least 422 million people suffer from it.