World Health Day 2021
Every year on 7 April, the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Department join the World Health Organization (WHO) in celebration of World Health Day.
This celebration aims to create awareness around a specific health theme to highlight a priority area of concern for the World Health Organization. The effects of the ongoing pandemic have brought to light this year’s theme: Building a fairer, healthier world.
With COVID-19 disrupting almost every aspect of daily lives, the concept of inequality has been placed under a microscope. It is clear that things were not disrupted equally for everybody, and not all pandemic experiences have been equal.
Though today serves as an opportunity to focus on the many important aspects of global health - this year, as the world still reels from a global health crisis, we must look especially at that inequality in crisis and the vicious cycle it creates if no action is taken.
Issues which had an unequal impact on society included job losses, unsustainable and costly strategies adopted by poorer households such as food rationing, unequal access to healthcare, and disruptions to school, as well as social norms. It is an important time for the Cayman Islands to join the WHO in creating actions against what crises often lays bare, “the social fault lines of society.”
Caymanians and residents have been blessed to live in a country where there is a high level of social solidarity, as citizens recognise that their behaviour affects others. There is also trust, including trust in the Government. Our ability to rise above the challenges collectively also speaks volumes. Nonetheless, the inequities here have been felt by all of us and have reinforced the commitment from the Ministry in joining the new global campaign to build a fairer, healthier country and world.
The Ministry of Health along with the Public Health Department continues to proactively lead and create policies that create a more equitable world, with equal access to healthcare, longevity and overall good health.
With COVID-19 disrupting almost every aspect of daily lives, the concept of inequality has been placed under a microscope. It is clear that things were not disrupted equally for everybody, and not all pandemic experiences have been equal.
Though today serves as an opportunity to focus on the many important aspects of global health - this year, as the world still reels from a global health crisis, we must look especially at that inequality in crisis and the vicious cycle it creates if no action is taken.
Issues which had an unequal impact on society included job losses, unsustainable and costly strategies adopted by poorer households such as food rationing, unequal access to healthcare, and disruptions to school, as well as social norms. It is an important time for the Cayman Islands to join the WHO in creating actions against what crises often lays bare, “the social fault lines of society.”
Caymanians and residents have been blessed to live in a country where there is a high level of social solidarity, as citizens recognise that their behaviour affects others. There is also trust, including trust in the Government. Our ability to rise above the challenges collectively also speaks volumes. Nonetheless, the inequities here have been felt by all of us and have reinforced the commitment from the Ministry in joining the new global campaign to build a fairer, healthier country and world.
The Ministry of Health along with the Public Health Department continues to proactively lead and create policies that create a more equitable world, with equal access to healthcare, longevity and overall good health.
