The Bahamas, Uganda, Brunei, Kenya, United States, Afghanistan, and Cuba were among the countries to hold activities on April 7 to mark World Health Day, this year focusing on urbanization and health.
Each year since 1948, the World Health Organization chooses a key public health issue affecting the world as the day’s theme. The WHO says urban areas will grow bigger and faster in the future and they can provide healthy environments, but also bring big health challenges like air pollution, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and insufficient access to health facilities in slum areas.
During activities, each area focused on its own health issues caused by urbanization and long-term programs to deal with them. In Afghanistan and Romania there were free medical examinations. In United Arabic Emirates, a 30-minute walk symbolized the need for exercise.
