'The whole world is but one family' - Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia

April 2010 Vol. 7 No. 10
Each year on April 7th, the world
celebrates World Health Day.
On this day around the globe,
thousands of events mark the importance
of health for productive and happy lives.
What is World Health Day?
In 1948, the World Health Organization
(WHO) held the First World Health
Assembly. The Assembly decided to
celebrate 7 April of each year, with effect
from 1950, as the World Health Day. The
World Health Day is celebrated to create
“awareness of a specific health theme to highlight
a priority area of concern for the World Health
Organization (WHO)”. Over the past 50 years this has
brought to light important health issues such as mental
health, maternal & child care, and climate change.
The celebration is marked by activities which extend
beyond the day itself and serve as an opportunity to
focus worldwide attention on these important aspects
of global health.
World Health Day 2010 Theme: Urban
Health Matters
This year, World Health Day focuses on urbanization
and health, in recognition of the effect urbanization
has on our collective health globally and for us all
individually.
Urbanization: A Challenge for Public Health
Virtually all population growth over the next 30 years
will be in urban areas, signalling that urbanization
is here to stay. It is associated with many health
challenges related to water, environment, violence
and injury, Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs)
and their risk factors like tobacco use, unhealthy
diets, physical inactivity, harmful use of alcohol as
well as the risks associated with disease outbreaks.
Urbanization is a challenge for several reasons. Of the
six WHO Regions, the Western Pacific experiences
the biggest number of natural hazards, and rapid
urbanization increase human vulnerability to disaster.
In many cases, especially in the developing world,
the speed of urbanization has outpaced the ability
of Governments to build essential infrastructure.
Unplanned urbanization can intensify an existing
humanitarian crisis and has consequences for the
health security and safety of all citizens in cities.
• The urban poor suffer disproportionately from a
wide range of diseases and other health problems,
and include an increased risk for violence, chronic
disease, and for some communicable diseases
World Health Day
such as tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
• The major drivers, or social determinants, of
health in urban settings are beyond the health
sector, including physical infrastructure, access
to social and health services, local governance,
and the distribution of income and educational
opportunities.
• It is estimated that half a billion people live in
informal settlements and slums in Asia. Five out
of six newly poor are in cities. While overall,
the highest densities of urban slums are found
in Africa, the biggest proportion are in the Asia
Pacific.
World Health Day 2010 Campaign:
1000 Cities, 1000 Lives
With the campaign 1000 cities, 1000 lives, events
will be organized worldwide. The global goals of the
campaign are:
1000 Cities: to open up public spaces to health,
whether it be activities in parks, town hall meetings,
clean-up campaigns, or closing off portions of streets
to motorized vehicles.
1000 Lives: to collect 1000 stories of urban health
champions who have taken action and had a significant
impact on health in their cities.
In the Western Pacific Region, “Environmentally
Sustainable and Healthy Urban Transport” (ESHUT) as
one of the approaches to achieve healthy urbanization
is being highlighted. The policy, design and operation
of urban transport systems impact the health and safety
of people through air and noise pollution, greenhouse
gas emissions generated by motor vehicles, road traffic
injuries, exposure to second-hand smoke in confined
public transport systems, and the lack of accessibility
for older people and those with disabilities. Our
overall objective is to promote a win-win strategy for
urban transport system to achieve good urban mobility
that impacts positively on health.