World Health Day - April 7, 2021

Building a fairer, healthier world

On World Health Day, 7 April 2021, we invite you to join a new campaign to build a fairer, healthier world.

Our world is an unequal one.

As COVID-19 has highlighted that some people are able to live healthier lives and have better access to health services than others - due to inequalities in their position, status and voice in society and the conditions in which they are born, grow, live, work and age.

All over the world, some groups not only have limited access to quality health services but also struggle to make ends meet with little daily income, have poorer access to safe housing conditions and quality education, fewer employment opportunities that pay a living wage, inequality, and have little or no access to safe environments, clean water and air and health services, and experience food insecurity. The groups that suffer most from these disadvantages are often the ones who experience gender and ethnic discrimination. These conditions can lead to unnecessary suffering, avoidable illness, and premature death. And it harms our societies and economies.

This is not only unfair: it is preventable. That’s why we are calling on leaders to ensure that equity in health is the centerpiece of our COVID-19 recovery. This will result in a region where everyone has living and working conditions that are conducive to good health, where health information systems are configured to identify populations in situations of vulnerability, where civil society and individuals are partners in finding solutions where inequalities occur, and where everyone has access to health and health care without experiencing discrimination. At the same time we urge leaders to monitor health inequities and to ensure that all people are able to access quality health services when and where they need them.

COVID-19 has hit all countries hard, but its impact has been harshest on those communities which already face significant vulnerability, who are more exposed to the disease, less likely to have access to quality health care services and more likely to experience adverse consequences due to as a result of measures implemented to contain the pandemic.