History and significance
Every year on April 7, the World
Health Organisation (WHO) celebrates World Health Day. World Health Day is
celebrated to spread awareness about the importance of health.
Every year the day has a different
theme. It was in 1950 that the first World Health Day was celebrated.
‘Universal Healthcare’ is the main focus of WHO is to put into place strategies
that healthcare accessible to different regions of the world.
This World Health Day, WHO is
honouring the contribution which nurses and midwives are making in making the
world a healthier place. 2020 is the International Year of the Nurse and the
Midwife, and WHO wants to highlight the significant roles which these two play
in making the world a better place.
WHO chose the year 2020 as the
“Year of the Nurse and Midwife” to honour the 200th birth anniversary of
Florence Nightingale. It is imperative to strengthen the workforce of nurses
and midwives so that globally, targets such as universal health coverage,
maternal and child health, mental health, delivery of people-centred care and
infectious and non-communicable diseases are taken care of.
Nurses and other health workers are completely immersed in the viral response, putting themselves at risk to protect others. The virus outbreak is a unique challenge which the world is faced with, and our healthcare workers are being selfless and courageous in the way they are facing this challenge.