Shillong, May 02: World Health Day is observed on April 7th to raise global awareness about health and general well-being. It marks the founding of the World Health Organization (WHO), a working body under the UN that aims to address health issues and concerns worldwide.
The decision to have a day dedicated to world health was taken at the first conference of WHO in 1948 in Geneva and the first World Health Day was celebrated in 1950. Since inception, WHO has played a major role in addressing serious issues like polio, smallpox, chickenpox etc. which were earlier considered as epidemic diseases in many developing countries. WHO is also responsible for producing the World Health report, which gives an account of the overall health of people across UN member nations.
Besides having a specific theme every year, several programs are organized by WHO and related organizations in schools, colleges as well as other institutions to help raise awareness.
The theme for World Health Day 2017 is ‘Depression: Let’s talk’. Depression often comes with symptoms of anxiety and is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called ‘major depressive disorder’ or ‘clinical depression’, it affects how a person feels, thinks and behaves and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems. Globally more than 300 million people suffer from depression.
