World Health Day

World Health Day – 7 April 2011

Antimicrobial resistance and its global spread

• We live in an era of medical breakthroughs with new 'wonder drugs' available to treat conditions that a few decades ago, or even a few years ago in the case of HIV/AIDS, would have proved fatal. For World Health Day 2011, WHO will launch a worldwide campaign to safeguard these medicines for future generations. Antimicrobial resistance - the theme of World Health Day 2011 - and its global spread, threatens the continued effectiveness of many medicines used today to treat the sick, while at the same time it risks jeopardizing important advances being made against major infectious killers. 
• To underline this, the WHO public awareness campaign will include a special focus on the HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria pandemics. WHO will call on governments and stakeholders to implement the policies and practices needed to prevent and counter the emergence of highly resistant superbugs, and to also provide appropriate care to those seriously affected by these microbes.

WORLD HEALTH DAY 2010

Urbanization and health

World Health Day 2010 focused on urbanization and 

health. With the campaign "1000 cities - 1000 lives", 

events were organized worldwide calling o cities to 

open up streets for health activities. Stories of urban 

health champions were gathered to illustrate what 

people are doing to improve health in their cities.