Saturday 7th April is World Health Day, a campaign that is globally recognised, and which this year marks the 70th Anniversary of the World Health Organisation (WHO). WHO promotes “health for all”, working towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goals.
World Health Day will shine a spotlight on the need for UHC – and the advantages it can bring. WHO is calling on world leaders to live up to the pledges they made when they agreed the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, and commit to concrete steps to advance #HealthForAll. This means ensuring that everyone, everywhere can access essential quality health services without facing financial hardship. You can find further information and key messages about the campaign here.
Professor Hora Soltani, Professor of Maternal and Infant Health in the Faculty of Health and Wellbeing writes;
‘Within SHU we are strongly committed to these key principles, focusing our research and education activities around these objectives across the life continuum.’
Professor Soltani has led on international activities aimed at reducing health inequalities for mothers and babies, and improving access to essential quality health services. These include;
- ORAMMA (Operational Refugee And Migrant Maternal Approach) which is an EU funded collaborative project with Greece, The Netherlands and several other EU partners. The project aims to develop an operational and strategic approach in order to promote safe motherhood and to improve access to enhance the quality of maternal care for refugee and migrant women within Europe.
- SHU hosted WHO’s consultation on new guidelines around female genital mutilation (FGM). Academics from HWB, together with 39 representatives from 14 countries met to discuss the WHO guidelines on the management of health complications from FGM during a two-day conference on the 16th March 2017. (You can read more about last year’s conference on the blog here).
Professor Soltani advises; ‘It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of women and girls living in Europe have been exposed to and/or are at risk of female genital mutilation. FGM has been a totally unknown phenomenon for health care professionals in Europe, and in Eastern Europe in particular. Recently published information confirms that hundreds of girls have been forced to undergo FGM. Urgent attention is therefore needed to alleviate this harmful practice across the globe and ensure all relevant health care professionals are aware of risks and management strategies for women who have suffered FGM.’
Throughout the World Health Day campaign WHO will be communicating via various social media channels:
The primary hashtag is #HealthForAll but look out for posts using #WorldHealthDay as well. WHO are encouraging everyone to share their posts across your networks, share your own materials and join conversations on issues related to the campaign.
