World Health Day in Qatar: Our Health, Our Planet

On April 7, Qatar marked World Health Day. This year's event wanted to draw global attention to the need for urgent action to keep humankind and the planet healthy, as well as to inspire a movement to create societies that emphasize well-being.

Her Excellency Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health, emphasized the importance of this year's World Health Day theme, which emphasizes the need to address the underlying causes of ill health through cross-sector collaboration, with a special focus on environmental risk prevention.

Her Excellency stated that the State of Qatar has worked hard to build a long-term health system based on intersectoral cooperation. The National Health Strategy 2018-2022 has made Health in all policies a priority, with the goal of enhancing health and equity for all populations by incorporating health issues and implications into all decision-making processes. Many notable projects and initiatives aimed at enhancing health and the environment have also been accepted by the state.

Her Excellency also mentioned that the State of Qatar has adopted the Healthy Cities Program, which seeks to provide the population with sustainable and healthier alternatives, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to recognize Doha and Al Rayyan municipalities, as well as the Education City, as Healthy Cities as part of a project aimed at adopting Healthy Cities for all municipalities in the country.

On World Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) calls on governments, corporations, health professionals, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and individuals to protect our world and our health.  “While the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the power of science in treatment, it has also highlighted the world's pervasive inequalities, revealed society's flaws in all regions, and highlighted the urgent need to create ‘sustainable, well-off societies’ committed to achieving health equity for current and future generations without crossing ecological boundaries.”

WHO will focus the world's attention on urgent efforts ready to protect human and planet health and promote action toward well-being-focused societies, in the middle of this pandemic, global pollution, and an increase in diseases such as cancer, asthma, and heart disease.

The World Health Organization estimates that the number of deaths is more than 13 million people due to preventable environmental causes around the world. This includes the climate problem, which is the world's single greatest health concern. The climate crisis is also a public health emergency.

Environmental concerns, such as climate change, are responsible for 23% of the total disease burden in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, and up to 30% of the disease burden for children. Every year, over 1 million individuals are expected to die prematurely as a result of living and working in unhealthy conditions.