World Health Day is celebrated every year on April 7 to draw attention to a subject of major importance to global health. The theme for 2013 is high blood pressure, also known as raised blood pressure or hypertension. One in three adults worldwide has high blood pressure.
In recent decades, enhancements in health services, environmental protection, economic development, and other factors have led to improvements in the health of people across the Region of the Americas. Nevertheless, an estimated one million premature deaths per year are attributable to known avoidable environmental risks.
Air pollution, contaminated water, inadequate sanitation including solid waste management, risks related to certain hazardous chemicals, and negative impacts of climate change are the most pressing environmental public health threats in the Region. These threats to public health are compounded by weak governance practices and potential inequities in health as well as by limited leadership, expertise, and resources in the health sector.
However, this theme of Our Planet, Our Health should be a powerful reminder to us that the resolution of many of these issues are beyond the exclusive purview of the health sector and, as a consequence, an effective response will demand whole- of- government and whole- of- society approaches.
Credit : PAHO
Picture Credit : Google
