World Health Day 2007

Date:     7 April 2007
Place:    Celebrated worldwide
Theme:  International Health Security
Slogan:  Invest in health, build a safer future

World Health Day marks the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO). It is an occasion to raise awareness of key global health issues. This year's theme is international health security. The aim is to urge governments, organizations and businesses to "Invest in health, build a safer future".

Emerging and epidemic-prone diseases and outbreaks, such as SARS and avian flu, as well as the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS, humanitarian emergencies, and other acute health threats can all be defined as public health emergencies. International health security is the first line of defence against health shocks that can devastate people, societies and economies worldwide. Implementation of the International Health Regulations (IHR) from June 2007 will help to build and strengthen mechanisms for outbreak alert and response at national and international levels, and contribute to making the world more secure.
To mark World Health Day 2007, a high-level global debate on 2 April 2007 in Singapore will raise the profile of international health security. The debate, involving the WHO Director-General together with political and opinion leaders, will be a dynamic forum to discuss health security challenges and find solutions for how partners can work together to prepare for and respond to acute threats to health.

The 2007 World Health Day slogan ‘Invest in health, build a safer future’ addresses one of the most vital concerns of our times. Globalization, rapid travel and trade make it much easier for new and existing diseases to leap over national borders and threaten our collective security. Avian Influenza in 2006 and SARS in 2003 spread from one country and region to the next. HIV/AIDS is also racing across nations, adversely impacting their economies and threatening their stability. New diseases have appeared and old ones have re-emerged as epidemic/pandemic prone diseases to present an acute threat to life. Climate change, natural disasters, chemical and nuclear accidents and bioterrorism also hold the potential to threaten international public health security.
 

When health emergencies give rise to global concerns, an effective response requires international coordination as has been seen post tsunami and the SARS outbreak. The World Health Day slogan highlights the crucial need to invest in human resources and strengthen health systems to enable the international community to effectively meet the public health risks and challenges. WHO is assisting countries to do this through a series of interrelated measures. For example, the revised and broadened International Health Regulations (2005) which will come into force in June 2007 will provide an important instrument to protect countries from global health destabilization. Under this international agreement, WHO Member States are obliged to prevent and control the spread of disease inside and outside their borders. They are required to maintain core surveillance and response capacities to detect, assess, notify and report public health events to WHO and to respond to public health risks and public health emergencies.

The government of Bangladesh will observe the day in a befitting manner as in previous years under the leadership of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW). The MOHFW and the Bureau of Health Education of the Directorate General of Health Services has started organizing various activities including essay and art competitions, grand rally, inaugural ceremony, newspaper supplements, and round table discussion in electronic media with the support of the WHO country office.