World Health Day
Every year on April 7th, World Health Organization celebrates “World Health Day” with all the other people across the world who also care about health by drawing attention to a universal underlying health problem. In previous years, they had themes such as “Food safety”, “Depression: Let’s Talk”, and “Road safety”. This year’s theme is “Universal Health Coverage” which is the same theme as World Health Day 2018.
Everyone in the world deserves to get quality healthcare because health is a human right. Unfortunately, more than half of the people in the world are unable to get quality and accessible healthcare. This year for World Health Day, WHO has organized a campaign to support the cause. The goal of the campaign is to call everybody, but especially health workers and policymakers, to action. WHO released many visuals such as posters and infographics to advocate accessible health care for everyone.
According to WHO “The campaign also presents an opportunity for ministers of health and other government decision-makers to commit to taking action to address gaps in universal health coverage in their countries, as well as to highlight the progress that has already been made.” This campaign is expected encourage many health workers and policymakers around the world to be vocal about equality in healthcare.
The campaign also provides a petition that everybody who wants to add their voice to the cause is encouraged to sign. It is an online petition that can be found on the official website of WHO, www.who.int. Additionally, there will be a United Nations General Assembly in September 2019 during which world leaders will talk and agree on a political declaration about the universal health coverage. The petition could help to show the support for equality in healthcare.
In addition to signing the petition, anyone who wants to take an action to show their support can get involved by sharing materials on social media posted by WHO and use the #HealthForAll hashtag. Media plays a huge role in influencing other people therefore WHO encourages people to post and join conversations about related issues on social media.