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WHO World Health Organization |
World Health Day 2002, is a call to action to individuals, families, communities, governments and policy-makers, to move for health. By choosing physical activity as the theme for World Health Day, the World Health Organization is promoting healthy, active and smoke-free lifestyles. Our aim is to prevent the disease and disability caused by unhealthy and sedentary living.
The habit of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including regular exercise and a nutritious diet ideally begins in childhood.
The world is experiencing a rapidly spreading epidemic of inactivity, poor diet and increased tobacco use. These disturbing trends are present in all societies and all countries, whether rich or poor, industrialized or developing, and they lead to an increase in lifestyle-related disease and disability.
This disturbing trend can be reversed. My message to you today is that prevention is the most powerful weapon against disease and disability, and it is a weapon that is available to everyone.
Physical activity is a fun and easy way to improve our health and well-being. It does not have to cost anything and everyone, whether young or old, can participate. It is an effective way to prevent cardio-vascular disease, diabetes, obesity and the two million deaths per year resulting from conditions related to physical inactivity.
Individuals need to take control of their own health and fitness and they need governments and policy-makers to help them. Physical activity should be the easy option as well as the healthy option. This means implementing transportation policies that make it safer for people to walk and ride bicycles, legislating smoke-free public buildings and spaces, and building accessible parks, playgrounds and community centres.
We should all be ready to move for health and to adopt healthy active lifestyles.
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Light morning exercises started a press-conference on April 5, 2002 dedicated to the World Health Day demonstrating visually the motto of this year: “Move for Health”. This demonstration was performed by children – students of the Moscow Federation of aerobics and callisthenics.
After such an unusual preamble Dr Mikko Vienonen, Special Representative
of the WHO Director-General in the Russian
Federation emphasized that great interest and satisfaction were prevailing feelings
at WHO after President Putin’s speech at the end of January at the meeting of
the Council of State in which he suggested taking urgent steps to improve the
nation health by means of actively developing sports. His innovative ideas about
attracting young people into taking in for sports, expanding possibilities for
doing physical activities and going in for sports on the whole territory of
the Russian Federation, attracting donor contributions from Russian enterprises,
as well as establishing a system of incentives for outstanding sportsmen who
could become positive examples for the youth exactly comply with the announced
policy of WHO “Move for Health”.
Dr Vienonen read out an appeal of Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General, devoted to the World Health Day.
In conclusion Dr Vienonen urged everybody to think of what practical steps could be made. If in European cities bicycles will soon outnumber cars, in Moscow occasional cyclists are perceived as felo-de-se, who are just not knocked down yet. The situation is to be changed. In the meantime very easy to follow but efficacious piece of advice could be given: thirty minutes of daily physical work can spare lots of problems. The only thing to do is to walk to your office in the morning or leave the underground one or two stations before your destination and walk the rest of your way home.
The traditional smorgasbords looked quite unusual for the journalists present: no ashtrays on the tables and the following menu – lettuce and carrots, cucumbers and celery, grapes, fruit juices and apples. That is what healthy food should be!
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On the 24th of March young people dressed in T-shirts and caps with the “Stop Tuberculosis” symbol distributed leaflets in the streets, clinics and TB dispensaries in Moscow. The leaflets under the slogan “ Stop TB, fight poverty!” informed about the symptoms of tuberculosis, and called for a more attentive attitude to one’s own health. They had been specially designed and printed on the occasion of the World TB Day.
Back
in 1882 on the 24th of March Dr. Robert Koch officially reported in Berlin about
a sensational discovery he had made. He had found the pathogen of tuberculosis,
which was given the name “Mycobacterium”. In those days the disease was widespread
in Europe as well as in the United States, it killed every seventh person in
the world. It was 20 years ago that the International Union Against Tuberculosis
and Lung Diseases announced the International World TB Day on the 24th of March.
The discovery of the TB bacillus gave a strong boost towards more precise diagnostics and effective treatment of this killer disease. However, from the times of Robert Koch the total death toll of TB victims has reached 200 million people. This is frightening as every year this deadly list grows longer.
This year the theme of the Day was ‘Stop TB. Fight poverty!’ An alliance of international organisations active in TB control in Russia [World Health Organisation, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Belgium), Merlin (United Kingdom), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Open Society Institute (Soros Foundation), Partners in Health and International Organisation for Migration, New York Public Health Research Institute] and the Russian Red Cross conducted various activities dedicated to the World TB Day. The objectives of the organized actions were to draw attention of policy-makers by means of mass media to the problem of TB as a social and medical disease, promote healthy lifestyle among general population, change the perception of TB as a fatal disease, inform of early TB symptoms, encourage regular medical checkup, and raise interest of medical students, future doctors and young researchers to the development of Russian phthisiology.
Press conference “Tuberculosis is a medical and social problem”
with participation of high-level Russian officials from 
the
Federal Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, TB institutes, Moscow TB Centre,
and international organizations was traditionally called on the 22 of March.
A briefing with journalists was organized on 15 March by the Open Society Institute, WHO, Ministry of Health of Russia, leading TB Research institutes, international organizations turned into a candid roundtable discussion. A competition for the best publication, TV or radio show about TB was announced. The meeting was broadcasted on-line, which encouraged numerous questions sent via internet from all-over Russia. The winners of the competition for journalists will be announced in the middle of April.
It has become a tradition to organize a competition for the best TB poster among children. This year 80 art school students (13–17 years old) from more than 11 Russian regions where TB programmes are run sent their art works to Moscow. This year’s first prize will go to a 14-year old Marina Minina, from the town of Orel. All of the participants will be awarded with T-shirts, caps, calendars with the symbol of World TB Day, specially designed for the occasion.
This
year the organization of the World TB Day activities was performed in close
cooperation with Sechenov Moscow Medical Academy, which held a contest for the
best research paper on TB and hosted a conference of young researchers on topical
problems of phthisiology. The interest to the competition and the conference
gave an idea to announce the competition and organize the conference on the
annual basis with the aim to reward the most talented young people participating
in the development of new methods of TB prevention, diagnostics and treatment.
To share the most recent news and achievements in TB treatment and prevention, a series of interviews and round-table discussions on “Govorit Moskva” and “Voice of Russia” radio stations were held with participation of international agencies, experts from leading TB research institutes. A 25-minute TV programme about TB in Russia, the role of WHO in TB control was broadcasted by one of the central TV channels.
A concert for young people (medical students) under the slogan of the World TB Day was given in one of Moscow clubs. Young bands played rock, blues, and punk music against tuberculosis. Disk jokeys played TB jingles, called competitions and distributed leaflets, T-shirts, caps with the symbols of the World TB Day. The same night Spivakov Foundation laureates gave a charity concert dedicated to the World TB Day.
The International World TB Day is just a day-length event, but win over this cruel disease there should be no weekends in the calendar. The combat against tuberculosis is not expected to bring quick results, a joint effort and long-term commitment by all partners is needed.