In the midst of a pandemic, a polluted planet, increasing diseases like cancer, asthma, heart disease, on World Health Day 2022, WHO will focus global attention on urgent actions needed to keep humans and the planet healthy and foster a movement to create societies focused on well-being. WHO estimates that more than 13 million deaths around the world each year are due to avoidable environmental causes. This includes the climate crisis which is the single biggest health threat facing humanity. The climate crisis is also a health crisis.
Through the UHC Partnership, donors and partners support WHO’s work in strengthening health systems in countries to respond to COVID-19, address the factors that affect the health of communities and the planet, and accelerate the achievement of universal health coverage.
Country action
Countries across the world have been using primary health care principles to strengthen their health systems in the face of unprecedented challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and other disease outbreaks, human-induced and natural disasters such as climate change and conflict.
Lessons and experiences documented through WHO’s series of stories from the field illustrate how this approach can be a powerful way to ensure that health systems and communities are mobilized as part of the movement to create sustainable societies, focused on what matters most to people, without breaching ecological limits.