The World Health Organization's (WHO) World Health Day - celebrated annually on April 7, is the anniversary of WHO's founding in 1948. Each year, World Health Day focuses on a particular health topic or theme and provides opportunities for communities around the world to get involved in healthy activities or to become better educated on the theme.
This year's World Health Day was a campaign to raise awareness about the threat of vector-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue. The goals of World Health Day 2014 were to:
- Provide communities with information on how to protect themselves against vector-borne diseases
- Target families living in areas where diseases are commonly transmitted by vectors
- Urge ministries of health to implement measures to improve the protection of their population
- Promote improved integrated surveillance in countries where vector-borne diseases are a threat.
Visit WHO's website to learn more about World Health Day 2014 and vector-borne diseases.