With all eyes currently on the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easy to lose focus on the ongoing health issues in the poorest communities of the world. These impoverished communities are miles from the nearest health professional and even further from the nearest fully-functioning hospital. World Health Day serves as a reminder of a much bigger picture.
World Health Day is on April 7, 2020. In preparation, we want to share what you can do to get involved and raise awareness even if you can’t leave your house!
About World Health Day
World Health Day is one of the official global health campaigns of the World Health Organization (WHO). The idea of the campaign is to draw attention to current events/issues around the world and possible solutions to any problems.
When Was The First World Health Day Celebrated?
The very first World Health Day was celebrated in 1950 after a few years of the idea being brought to the table. For the last seventy years, the World Health Organization has been drawing on current events to bring awareness to the people around the world.
World Health Day Themes
Each year there a theme is highlighted to put a focus on whatever may be currently happening in the world and how to make it better. In past years, universal health care has been a huge topic. Depression, diabetes, and food security have all been topics of interest.
2020: Nurses and Midwives
This year, April 7th is all about the nurses and midwives. Rightfully so! They deserve the recognition for all of their hard work and dedication to the doctors that they work with and the patients that they care for day in and day out.
The entire year of 2020 has been dedicated to nurses and midwives to shed some light on the hard work that goes into everything that they do to literally make-the-world-go-’round.
As a part of World Health Day 2020 and the Year of the Nurse and Midwife 2020, the World Health Organization is bringing awareness to nurses and the less than ideal conditions that they sometimes face. World Health Day serves as a reminder of how important nurses and midwives are to the healthcare systems in all parts of the world.
2019 & 2018: Universal Health Coverage
The focus of World Health Day for the last two years has been on Universal Health Coverage. So many people go without health care because they cannot afford it. World Health Day started a much-needed conversation on a global scale because it is something that can no longer be ignored.
Back to the 50s
In 2017, World Health Day focused on depression and how mental illness impacts the lives of so many people. It showed how depression leads to suicide in a lot of cases. Suicide is the second leading cause of death in people ages 15 through 29.
In 2016, World Health Day focused on the growing number of people with diabetes in the world. World Health Day, in 2015, was all about making food safe. For 70 years, World Health Day has been a crucial day for bringing attention to important topics that involve current events.
It has been a conversation starter for so many people. Will it start a conversation for you this year?
How Can You Get Involved?
Social Media
At this moment in time, the safest way to raise awareness as a millennial on World Health Day is to utilize your social media accounts. With social media, you can spread the word without spreading germs. At the same time, you can practice and promote social distancing.
On April 7th, be sure to use the hashtag #WorldHealthDay and #globalcampaign on social media to promote the World Health Day campaign.
Make sure to post your appreciation for nurses or midwives along with a shoutout to anyone that you may know personally. The hashtag #SupportNursesandMidwives will be used along with #COVID-19.
If you are a nurse or midwife and you want to make a difference, write to the policymakers and let your voice be heard. Share your concerns with where support for nurses and midwives is failing right now and what can be done to make it better.
The people that know what is best for the healthcare system and what happens on the front lines are you. The nurses are the first people that a sick or injured person sees. In some cases, you are the only person that the sick or injured person sees. You can be the difference in the healthcare system.
Volunteer & Donate
The goal at Esperança is to help indigenous communities all over the world with disease prevention, food security, surgical programs, water and sanitation, and secure housing. Esperança gives hope to the impoverished people of the world that have given up.
The people that are helped by Esperança are people that would benefit greatly from the movements promoted by World Health Day. Having no healthcare coverage, no medical insurance is something that the poorest countries in the world struggle with every day. Universal health care is a necessity in future disease prevention and surgical intervention.
There are a number of different ways that you can support the Esperança movement. If sending school supplies to children in the Peruvian Andes is something that speaks to you, there are Q’ero children waiting for your donation. If that isn’t the right option for you, there are plenty of other ways that you can help deliver hope through donations to Esperança.
When the COVID-19 pandemic is over, you can spread awareness by volunteering with Esperança. Esperança is a non-profit organization that gives hope to the poorest communities around the world. They are always searching for surgical specialties to join them in surgical missions around the world. If your volunteer senses are tingling, this may be where it is calling you.
World Health Day 2020
This year, World Health Day might seem like it won’t happen because of COVID-19 and social distancing being a big part of our near future, but that doesn’t mean that there is nothing that you can do.
Make sure you post to social media to spread awareness, not germs!
And donate, if you can, to a non-profit organization, like Esperança, that does good for the less fortunate people that aren’t as lucky as you to be safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.