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World Health Day
Today is World Health Day, which celebrates the creation of the World Health Organization, which, incidentally, was created 60 years ago today. This years theme is “protecting health from climate change.” Regarding this years theme, the WHO explains:
In 2008, World Health Day focuses on the need to protect health from the adverse effects of climate change. WHO selected this theme in recognition that climate change is posing ever growing threats to global public health security.
For more, you can read about the key messages, download a podcast about World Health Day from WHO, read new release: Climate change will erode foundations of health, and read the issue paper (pdf) which explains:
The changing climate will inevitably affect the basic requirements for maintaining health: clean air and water, sufficient food and adequate shelter. Each year, about 800 000 people die from causes attributable to urban air pollution, 1.8 million from diarrhoea largely resulting from lack of access to clean water supply and sanitation, and from poor hygiene, 3.5 million from malnutrition and approximately 60 000 in natural disasters. A warmer and more variable climate threatens to lead to higher levels of some air pollutants, increase transmission of diseases through unclean water and through contaminated food, to compromise agricultural production in some of the least developed countries, and to increase the hazards of extreme weather.
Not to mention, you can watch a video about World Health Day from the Director-General, Dr Margaret Chan (windows media).
To learn more, go check out: World Health Day: protecting health from climate change.
— michael | April 7, 2008 06:52 PM | Something to think about
