Planning

World health day 2007, and the World Health Report 2007 will focus on global health security. Globalization, rapid travel and trade make it that much easier for new and existing diseases to leap over national borders and threaten our collective security and hence WHO has chosen to focus on the growing interdependence between health and security

The WHD slogan ‘Invest in health, build a safer future’ is a grim reminder of the fact that threats to health know no borders. Avian flu in 2006 and SARS in 2003 spread rapidly from one country and region to the next. HIV/AIDS threaten the stability of many nations adversely impacting their economy and finally their security. Besides this, threats to health security also come in the form of war, conflict, terrorism, natural disasters, poverty, environmental degradation and violence against women and children. The world has to work together to tackle these health threats.

The challenge can be met by countries investing in strengthening their own public health systems, by building capacity to prevent as well as improve preparedness and effective responses to various threats to health.