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World Health Day
2009
The World Health Day is celebrated globally on 7 April to mark the
founding of the World Health Organization and to raise awareness on a
key global issue. This year’s theme, "Health facilities in emergencies",
underscores the importance of investing in health infrastructure that is
able to withstand natural hazards, conflicts or a deteriorating
situation and that is able to serve and protect people in immediate
need.
In Lebanon, the World Health Organization implemented several activities
to celebrate the World Health Day 2009 and a national campaign with the
slogan “Save lives. Make hospitals safe in emergencies" was held on this
occasion in collaboration with the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) and
the Lebanese Syndicate of Hospitals. These included:
1. A press conference on 7 April 2009 during which the national World
Health Day 2009 campaign was launched, under the slogan “Save lives.
Make hospitals safe in emergencies”. The press conference addressed the
different ministries, UN agencies, academic institutions, syndicates,
public and private hospitals, concerned Parliamentary Commissions and
Government officials, embassies, MoPH’s district doctors, as well as the
media and other health professionals.
2. Awareness raising and sensitization activities through the various
mass media channels, especially local and Pan Arab televisions, radio
stations, newspapers, and magazines.
3. The production and distribution of educational materials addressing
the population in general, and hospitals and primary health care centers
in particular through the MoPH, the Ministry of Social Affairs, as well
as the Syndicate of Hospitals and the Lebanese Red Cross. The posters
produced cover the following topics:
- The World Health Day 2009 theme
- Hand Hygiene
- Universal Precautions in Hospitals
- Three posters on Surgical Safety
4. The Children’s Art Competition for World Health Day 2009, which was
initiated in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher
Education (MoEd), and the UNRWA schools.
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The World health Day 2009 Campaign is a year-long event:
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January–April 2009:
Development of tools
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7 April 2009:
World Health Day celebration
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July 2009:
A booster event
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8 October 2009:
International Day for Disaster Reduction
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31 December 2009:
WHO/UNISDR event to end a 2-year sister campaign on
Hospitals Safe From Disaster
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January–April 2010:
feedback collection and response gauging phase
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In addition to these activities, the WHO Lebanon Office is in the
process of planning follow up activities that will be undertaken
throughout the remainder of the year. These activities will target
health facilities and include:
Safe surgeries awareness
Infection control training initiative
Developing a Hospital Safety checklist to help the country in
protecting the critical infrastructure of hospitals and to analyze where
it is standing.
This tool would help health facilities assess their safety and avoid
becoming a
casualty of disasters, the authorities determine which facilities most
urgently need
interventions and the country and decision makers have an overall idea
of its
ability to respond to major emergencies and disasters.
Continuation of the health emergency preparedness activities
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