Message on World Health Day

http://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2014/en/

http://youtu.be/LutGFrwysRI

Regular fogging to prevent dengue and other diseases transmitted by mosquitoes in Bali, Indonesia.




A woman hangs a mosquito net in the temporary dwelling in the fields (champka) that she and her husband are clearing to farm, Cambodia.




Child with cutaneous leishmaniasis awaiting treatment in Kabul, Afghanistan




Checking for mosquito larvae in water accumulated in bamboo shoots. Plant-held waters (phytotelmata) offer excellent breeding sites for different species of mosquitoes.

http://www.unis.unvienna.org/unis/en/pressrels/2014/unissgsm519.html

PRESS RELEASES

For information only - not an official document

UNIS/SGSM/519
4 April 2014

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

Message on World Health Day

7 April 2014

VIENNA, 7 April (United Nations Information Service) - Every year more than one million people die from diseases carried by mosquitoes, flies, ticks and other insects, such as triatomine bugs.  These vector-borne diseases - which include malaria, dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis - cause chronic illness and immense suffering for hundreds of millions more.

Climate change, altered habitats and increased international trade and travel are exposing more people to the vectors that transmit these diseases.  They present a risk in all regions, including countries where the threat had formerly been eradicated, but the most affected are the world's poorest people, especially those who live in remote rural communities far from health services or in urban shanty towns.  By profoundly affecting people's health, vector-borne diseases are a serious impediment to poverty reduction and sustainable development. 

As we work to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and define a post-2015 development agenda, let us recognize that investing in vector control and disease prevention is a wise and necessary investment.  We have the scientific knowledge and have developed proven interventions to tackle these diseases.  In Africa, for example, more than 700 million insecticide-treated bed nets have already helped to cut malaria rates dramatically, particularly among children and pregnant women. 

Sustained political commitment can save millions of lives and yield substantial social and economic returns.  But it is important to recognize that vector control goes beyond the health sector.  Poorly planned development initiatives -- such as forest clearance, dam construction or irrigation to boost food production -- may increase the disease burden.  Addressing this issue demands an integrated, coherent and united effort across many sectors, including the environment, agriculture, water and sanitation, urban planning and education. 

Everyone has a role to play in the fight against vector-borne diseases - international organizations, governments, the private sector, civil society, community groups and individuals.  On this World Health Day, I urge countries and development partners to make vector control a priority.  Let us work together to tackle this serious but eminently preventable threat to human health and development.

* *** *

WHO Director-General commemorates World Health Day

Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization

Opening remarks to commemorate World Health Day: Vector-borne diseases
Geneva, Switzerland
7 April 2014

Distinguished guests, colleagues in public health, our staff, ladies and gentlemen,

World Health Days provide an opportunity to focus world attention on a health problem or issue that deserves special attention. Vector-borne diseases are one such problem.

Holding these diseases at bay, and getting the upper hand, require multiple actions on multiple fronts. These are especially tenacious diseases that deliver a stern reminder of the dangers of complacency.

The massive use of insecticides in the 1940s and 1950s successfully brought many important vector-borne diseases under control, including yellow fever and, in several areas, malaria.

Complacency set in. Control programmes were dismantled. Resources dwindled. Expertise was lost. And the diseases roared back with a vengeance, and a vanished infrastructure for their control. For example, the worldwide incidence of dengue has increased 30-fold compared with the situation 50 years ago.

Malaria, which is spread by mosquitoes, remains the best-known and biggest killer among vector-borne diseases. But there are others.

Some, like dengue and yellow fever, tend to erupt in large outbreaks that can paralyze health systems and cause considerable economic and social disruption. Onchocerciasis causes blindness. Chikungunya causes severe joint pain that can last for weeks.

Chagas disease in its late stage can cause heart failure and early death in young adults. Japanese encephalitis can permanently damage the central nervous system. Schistosomiasis, the most widespread of all these diseases, contributes to poor nutritional status and poor school performance.

Some forms of leishmaniasis are rapidly fatal. Others cause severe facial disfigurement. Of the 120 million people currently infected with lymphatic filariasis, around 40 million are disfigured and incapacitated by the disease.

Lost productivity is one consequence. Stigma and social exclusion are additional sources of misery, especially for women.

In another worrisome trend, vectors in several countries are developing resistance to a highly effective class of insecticides that is also the most affordable.

Vectors thrive under conditions where housing is poor, water is unsafe, and environments are contaminated with filth. Vector-borne diseases exact their heaviest toll on the poor, the people left behind by development. Measures that control the vectors provide an excellent, but underutilized opportunity to help these people catch up.

We need to recreate the momentum for vector control and the fundamental capacities that underpin it. These include staff with technical expertise, stronger surveillance systems, and better laboratory infrastructure.

For vector-borne diseases, control programmes never tread water. They either surge ahead or they sink.

This World Health Day is a reminder of the urgent need to act before an alarming situation deteriorates any further.

Taking action is entirely feasible. WHO promotes integrated vector management as the best approach to strengthen vector control. The approach uses a range of interventions, from indoor residual spraying to the use of natural insect predators, in combination and in a value-added way.

The control of vector-borne diseases can make a major contribution to poverty reduction, as it precisely targets the poor.

It is my sincere wish that this World Health Day will invigorate vector control and give it the high profile it deserves. No one in the 21st century should die from the bite of a mosquito, a sandfly, a blackfly, or a tick.

Thank you.