Every year on April 7, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) anniversary is celebrated. Established in 1948, the WHO is the “directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system.” It provides leadership on global health matters, shapes the research agenda, sets standards, monitors and assesses health trends, and provides technical support to countries. With the twenty-first century, the World Health Organization has regarded actions on public health as increasingly challenging with more and more sectors influencing health policies. Thus, since health is a social responsibility, the WHO has come up with six goals to surpass such challenges.
1) The promotion of health development is extremely important because access to prevention and treatment interventions and resources should be fair and equal; it should not be denied to poor people.
2) Collective security measures against “epidemic-prone diseases,” which are normally fueled by urbanization, lack of environmental care, the way food is produced, and how antibiotics are used.
3) In order to reach poor people, there is a need for stronger health systems that would allow for trained staff, financing, access to the necessary technology, and the access to important drugs.
4) In order to establish standards, the WHO needs information and evidence, and both come with research. Such research would allow for appropriate standards regarding keeping up with the evolving global health phenomena.
5) Continuing off of research, with more evidence the WHO is able to persuade other countries to implement programs that meet the organization’s set priorities.
6) Finally, the WHO is focused on improving its performance. Doing so has meant to be involved in reforms in order to become more efficient.
This year’s World Health Day theme is “Control your Blood Pressure.” Due to the presented statistic that 1 in 3 adults has high blood pressure, and the leading result of 9 million deaths each year because of it, the World Health Organization recommends decreasing salt intake this year!
– Leen Abdallah
Source: Earth Times