World Health Day celebrated on April 7

The World Health Day is observed on April 7 each year. This year, the theme is “International Health Security” and is focusing on emerging and epidemic-prone diseases and outbreaks, such as SARS and avian flu, as well as the continuing spread of HIV/AIDS, humanitarian emergencies, and other acute health threats that can all be defined as “public health emergencies”. The aim of the Day is to urge governments, organisations and businesses to “Invest in health, build a safer future”, as international health security is the first line of defence against health shocks that can devastate people, societies and economies worldwide. At present, all the countries in the world are exposed to the risk of emerging and rapidly spreading diseases, environmental change, the ongoing danger of bioterrorism, sudden and intense humanitarian emergencies caused by natural disasters, chemical spills or radioactive accidents. Moldova’s geo-political position does not exclude it from the number of countries exposed to natural or man-caused risks, that is why it is important that the technical and human capacity of the specialised services respond to challenges. According to the Ministry of Health, natural disasters, outbreaks, accidents and bioterrorism can affect the quality of air, water reserves and food products, access to electricity, gas, telephone or other services. In this situation, consequences can be prevented or mitigated only by informing people about security measures. At the same time, local authorities must undertake special actions for different intervention stages, while doctors must impart knowledge to people on causes, way of spreading and actions to prevent or diminish health risks. Specialists recommend each family to prepare reserves of water, foodstuff, first-aid kits, to observe protection rules while taking care of a sick person. People must avoid consuming food and water with suspicious appearance and odour, to observe rules for thermal preparation of food products.