World Health Day is a global health awareness day, celebrated each year on April 7, sponsored mainly by The World Health Organization (WHO).
2023 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of WHO. World Health Day provides an opportunity to look back at public health successes that have improved the quality of life for people over the past seven decades. It also aims to motivate governments and institutions to take action regarding the many health challenges nations face todaand into the future.
The theme for this year’s World Health Day is Health For All.
In his message for World Day of the Sick, 11 February 2023, Pope Francis said:
“These past years of the pandemic have increased our sense of gratitude for those who work each day in the fields of healthcare and research. Yet it is not enough to emerge from such an immense collective tragedy simply by honouring heroes. Covid-19 has strained the great networks of expertise and solidarity, and has exposed the structural limits of existing public welfare systems. Gratitude, then, needs to be matched by actively seeking, in every country, strategies and resources in order to guarantee each person’s fundamental right to basic and decent healthcare.”
May governments and health systems be motivated to guarantee the healthcare that all of us need.
La Giornata mondiale della salute è una giornata di sensibilizzazione sulla salute globale, celebrata ogni anno il 7 aprile e promossa principalmente dall’Organizzazione Mondiale della Sanità (OMS).
Nel 2023 ricorre il 75° anniversario della fondazione dell’OMS. La Giornata mondiale della salute offre l’opportunità di ripercorrere i successi della sanità pubblica che hanno migliorato la qualità della vita delle persone negli ultimi sette decenni. Inoltre, mira a motivare i governi e le istituzioni ad agire per affrontare le numerose sfide sanitarie che le nazioni si trovano ad affrontare per il futuro.
Il tema della Giornata mondiale della salute di quest’anno è Salute per tutti.
Nel suo messaggio per la Giornata mondiale del malato, l’11 febbraio 2023, Papa Francesco ha detto:
“Questi ultimi anni di pandemia hanno aumentato il nostro senso di gratitudine per coloro che lavorano ogni giorno nei campi della sanità e della ricerca. Tuttavia, non è sufficiente uscire da una così immensa tragedia collettiva semplicemente onorando gli eroi. Il virus Covid-19 ha messo a dura prova le grandi reti di competenza e solidarietà e ha messo a nudo i limiti strutturali dei sistemi di assistenza pubblica esistenti. La gratitudine, quindi, deve essere accompagnata dalla ricerca attiva, in ogni Paese, di strategie e risorse per garantire il diritto fondamentale di ogni persona a un’assistenza sanitaria di base e dignitosa”.
Che i governi e i sistemi sanitari siano motivati a garantire l’assistenza sanitaria di cui tutti abbiamo bisogno.
We begin our liturgy today with Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, as the people shout, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!” (Matt 21:9). The people were rejoicing in the coming of the Messiah, but they were placing all their hopes in a Messiah who was a king, a mighty and powerful leader, certainly not a Messiah who was a suffering servant, who would die by the lowest form of death possible – crucifixion. They were right to trust in this Prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee. They were mistaken in understanding how this Prophet, this Son of David, this one who was coming in the name of the Lord, would lead them into new life. These same people, when their hopes seem lost, mock Jesus and choose the man Barabbas over him…
Messages from the sisters in Puerto Eten over the past few days are full of concern for the people of their area who are facing severe damage to their homes, loss of crops/livelihood, destruction of roads, bridges and other infrastructure, and buildup of debris. So far, our sisters are safe, but the forecast for the area shows no letup of the rains.
At the UN, Mercy Global Action is promoting a Mercy Water Campaign to strengthen a more unified voice in the Mercy World, in solidarity with our partners and water defenders in the water justice movement, to protect and promote the human right to water, and the rights-based implementation of SDG6 (clean water and sanitation).