World Health Day

World Health Day is celebrated on 7th April every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948. Each year a theme is selected that highlights a priority area of public health. The Day provides an opportunity for individuals in every community to get involved in activities that can lead to better health. The theme for 2014 is vector-borne diseases.

Vectors are organisms that transmit pathogens and parasites from one infected person (or animal) to another. Vector-borne diseases are illnesses caused by these pathogens and parasites in human populations. They are most commonly found in tropical areas and places where access to safe drinking-water and sanitation systems is problematic. The most deadly vector-borne disease, malaria, caused an estimated 660 000 deaths in 2010. Most of these were African children. However, the world’s fastest growing vector-borne disease is dengue, with a 30-fold increase in disease incidence over the last 50 years.

In recent years, renewed commitments from ministries of health, regional and global health initiatives – with the support of foundations, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector and the scientific community – have helped to lower the incidence and death rates from some vector-borne diseases.

We can inculcate the following practices that can prevent us from vector diseases:

• Increase public awareness about tackling malaria, dengue etc.

• Enhance people’s  knowledge about Vectors such as mosquitoes, ticks, mites, fleas, sandflies and freshwater snails

• Create healthy environments by working with health authorities

• Making the travelers/ visitors aware of vector diseases

Let us work towards making our environment a  healthy and happy place to live!!