At the same time that CooperVision announces its partnership with the Healthcare Alliance for Patient Safety, we also look ahead to World Health Day 2018. An initiative of the World Health Organization, World Health Day will be celebrated on April 7th this year. Through its World Health Day campaign, the World Health Organization seeks to raise awareness of the need for basic, affordable health care services around the globe, for all people.
This year marks the 70th anniversary of World Health Day and the World Health Organization states that it will devote its efforts all year to inspire, motivate and guide worldwide efforts to improve healthcare access for everyone:
- Inspire—by highlighting policy-makers’ power to transform the health of their nation, framing the challenge as exciting and ambitious, and inviting them to be part of the change.
- Motivate—by sharing examples of how countries are already progressing towards UHC and encourage others to find their own path.
- Guide—by providing tools for structured policy dialogue on how to advance UHC domestically or supporting such efforts in other countries (e.g. expanding service coverage, improving quality of services, reducing out-of-pocket payments).
Utilizing the hashtag #healthforall, the World Health Organization plans an aggressive social media campaign and encourages supporters of their efforts to utilize it on their own social media posts between now and April 7th. On their web site, the WHO explains: “World Health Day will shine a spotlight on the need for universal health coverage (UHC) - and the advantages it can bring. WHO and its partners will share examples of steps to take to get there through a series of events and conversations held at multiple levels. As our Director-General has said, ‘No one should have to choose between death and financial hardship. No one should have to choose between buying medicine and buying food.’”
CooperVision continues its own healthcare advocacy efforts, both independently and through the new Health Care Alliance for Patient Safety to make sure that ocular health is not compromised by interruption of the doctor-patient relationship.
For more information on World Health Day, visit the WHO website at www.who.int. To read more about CooperVision’s ongoing advocacy efforts for patient safety and in support of the profession, visit the ECP Viewpoints Legislative Advocacy Page.