In 1948, there was a call for the creation of a 'World Health Day' to mark the founding of the World Health Organization. And since 1950, World Health Day has been celebrated annually on 7 April. Each year a theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area of concern for WHO.
The theme for World Health Day this year will be 'Hypertension', also known as high blood pressure, which increases the risk of heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. Did you know that one in three adults worldwide have hypertension?
The goal of the day is to raise awareness of hypertension and its risks and encourage healthy behaviours to prevent heart attacks, stokes etc.
Life expectancy has increased over the past century and we will soon have more older people across the world than children and young people. We therefore need to prepare our health and social systems for this ageing world.
World Health Day gives all of us a worldwide opportunity to focus on key public health issues that affect the international community.
