07 avril 2023

The 2023 edition of World Health Day led by the World Health Organization (WHO) takes place this Friday, April 7. This year, the WHO also celebrates its 75th anniversary. After 75 years of promoting health for all, if the progress is enormous, so are the challenges ahead.

The theme chosen this year is “Health for All”. As every year, World Health Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO), April 7. This 2023 edition is special because the WHO is celebrating its 75th anniversary.

In 1948, in a world scarred by long years of war, 61 countries signed a treaty recognizing health as a fundamental human right but also for peace and security. Today, the WHO brings together 194 member states.

Since then there have been major advances – antibiotics have saved millions of lives and the polio vaccine has been developed – but “ this progress is constantly threatened by the persistence of health inequalities “, notes the WHO. Thus, good health and well-being for all remains the third goal among the 17 goals set by the United Nations to change the world. ” More than five million children die each year before their fifth birthday. In addition, 16,000 children die every day from preventable diseases, such as measles and tuberculosis. Every day, hundreds of women die during pregnancy or from complications related to childbirth “, deplores the UN.

75 ans of progress

If following 75 years, Health for all is still not acquired, the progress for humanity is numerous. Among them :

• The creation of the Expanded Program on Immunization in 1974 has prevented 3.5 to 5 million deaths each year from, among other things, measles, tetanus, whooping cough and influenza;
• In 1980, the WHO certified the eradication of smallpox worldwide, responsible for nearly 300 million deaths in the 20th century.
• Since 2000, ” mortality among children under five and pregnant women has halved“, underlines the WHO.
• In 2003, Member States adopted the first public health treaty in the world: the framework convention for tobacco control. In effect in more than 180 countries, 60 countries were on track to meet the target of a 30% reduction in tobacco consumption by 2025
• In 2021, the development of the first-ever vaccine once morest a parasite, a malaria vaccine, promises to save millions of people as the death toll from malaria in 2021 rose to 619,000.
• In 2023, poliomyelitis is on the verge of being eradicated with a 99.9% reduction in the spread of the disease worldwide.

Still many challenges to overcome

« We continue to face vast inequalities in access to health services, in global defenses once morest health emergencies, once morest threats from toxic products and once morest the climate crisis “, However, recognizes Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of the WHO. To address these challenges, WHO aims to employ 10 million people in the health sector by 2030 in low- and middle-income countries. It has also launched a training program in first aid for 25% of nurses in 25 low- and middle-income countries by 2025.

Aiming for health equity, the WHO urges states to give priority to primary health care, while in 2021, nearly 3.6 billion people still did not have access to it.

Generally silent, arterial hypertension is the most common chronic disease in France. As its name suggests, it is characterized by too high blood pressure, opening the door to many cardiovascular, cerebrovascular or neurodegenerative complications (myocardial infarction, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, etc.).

In the management of hypertension, lifestyle plays a very important role. A balanced diet and the fact of not smoking of course. But not only. Sport is also important.

Proof of this is with a Finnish study that lasted more than 30 years. It all started between 1984 and 1989. Scientists recruited more than 2,000 men aged 42 to 61. From then on, regular measurements of blood pressure and cardiorespiratory fitness, that is to say the maximum oxygen consumption during an effort, were carried out. This allowed the scientists to divide the participants into four groups:

– Those with normal blood pressure and high physical fitness;

– Those with normal blood pressure and low physical fitness;

– Those with high blood pressure but in good physical condition;

– And those suffering from hypertension with low physical fitness.

“Good physical condition does not eliminate the risk of mortality… but it does reduce it”

During follow-up – which lasted until 2018 – 644 deaths from cardiovascular disease were recorded. Not surprisingly, men with high blood pressure who did not exercise had a risk of cardiovascular death more than doubled compared to those in the first group.

As for participants with hypertension but with higher levels of fitness, they were indeed at cardiovascular risk. But significantly lower than that of their sedentary counterparts.

According to the authors, “good physical condition does not eliminate the increased risk of cardiovascular mortality in men with high blood pressure… but it does reduce it. Controlling blood pressure should remain a goal in people with high levels. And this thanks to regular physical activity. »

To be in good shape, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends practicing “at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity endurance activity or 75 minutes of sustained-intensity activity” during the week. Ten to twenty minutes a day, it’s not even the sea to drink! And simple gestures can make the difference: on your way to work, get off a station before your stop, park your car less close to your place of work or your home, use the stairs rather than the elevator, at the office, get up you and walk regularly…

Source : European Journal of Preventive Cardiology