World Health Day is a global campaign in which people are invited to pay attention to a health problem with repercussions throughout the world. It is celebrated on April 7 from 1950, each year with a different theme.
The selection of the subject falls on the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), who makes the decision based on the suggestions of the member governments and their workers. In the last five years, World Health Day has addressed the following topics:
Small bites, big threats (2014)
Food safety (2015)
Beat diabetes (2016)
Let's talk about depression (2017)
Health for all (2018)
Other subjects dealt with were blood pressure control (2013), resistance to antimicrobials (2011) or protecting health from climate change (2008).
World Health Day 2019
For this year WHO has announced that the motto of World Health Day will revolve around universal health coverage. The goal is to ensure that people in the world have at their disposal "the care they need, when they need it."
According to this institution, millions of citizens still do not have access to medical care in many places, which forces them to choose between taking care of their health or other daily expenses such as food or clothing.
The WHO recalls the reasons why the 2019 motto is important:
Because at least half of the population throughout the world does not have essential health services covered.
Because some 100 million people live in "extreme poverty" since they have to pay for medical care.
Because more than 800 million people (almost 12% of the population) have spent at least 10% of their family budgets on medical care.
The purpose of the program is to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. For this, the organization wants us to understand the meaning of "universal health coverage", that is, what services and support should be available.
In this way, it is aimed above all at people who do have access to health care so that they can understand what life is like for those who do not have it.
In 1948 WHO defined health with a phrase that is still valid: "Health is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being". This definition aims to go beyond the idea that health means "absence of disease".
In 1986 the same organization clarified that health is "a resource for daily life, not the goal of life". In addition, he insisted that it is a "positive concept, which emphasizes social and personal resources, as well as physical capabilities."
According to this explanation, health is a complete state of physical, mental and social well-being. Hence, it is widely used for his idea of "complete well-being".
Some experts, however, question this approach of "complete well-being" because they believe that it is something unattainable for most people. For this sector, "health varies for each individual, depending on their circumstances".
For all this, the maximum purpose of the WHO is to make health "one of the fundamental rights of every human being, without distinction of race, religion, political ideology or economic or social condition."
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