From 4 April to 6 May, an exhibition "Be healthy, people", timed to World Health Day, runs in the Documents of International Organizations Reading Room (room 207).

In 1948, the World Health Organization held the First World Health Assembly. The Assembly decided to celebrate 7 April of each year, with effect from 1950, as the World Health Day. This date was chosen because on 7 April 1948 the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) came into force.

This document defines health as a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. The desire to reach by all people of the world the highest level of health is the core goal of the organization.

Millions of people over the world realize how our health is importance for efficient and happy life. In today’s rapidly changing society the value of health and a healthy lifestyle takes the leading position, so the celebration of World Health Day is attracting each year more and more attention of global leaders as well as the public all over the world. Protecting and maintenance of human health remains a priority goal for both public authorities at all levels and international and public organizations.

World Health Day is a global campaign, inviting everyone – from global leaders to the public in all countries – to focus on a single health challenge with global impact. Focusing on new and emerging health issues, World Health Day provides an opportunity to start collective action to protect people’s health and well-being and to encourage governments, international organizations, business and civil society in collaborative efforts in struggling with these problems.

Each year, the celebration of this day is devoted to particular theme. For recent years World Health Day focused on questions about mental health, maternity, road safety, the impact of climate changing on human health, safety of medical institutions, etc. This year’s theme is "Aging and Health".

This problem concerns each of us – young and old, men and women, rich and poor. Drawing attention to this issue, WHO emphasizes that good health throughout life helps older people lead full and efficient lives and be a resource for their families and communities.

The experience of ageing in the 21st century will be very different from that in the last century. In next five years it will be the first time in human history when the number of people aged 65 and older will have been exceed the number of children under the age of five years. Between 2000 and 2050 a part of the population which is older than 60 years will double from about 11% to 22%. The mankind needs to rethink the processes of aging. On World Health Day, WHO proposes to reflect on what kind of society we want to create and to consider policies and actions that need to be put into practice in order to predict the aging of population and to take appropriate countermeasures, putting at the heart of human health.

The exhibition contains more than 100 papers, books, pamphlets and periodicals. The most part of documents are international organizations (UN, WHO, UNESCO, the European Union, Council of Europe) in Russian and English.

The exhibition includes the following sections:

International guidelines and standards in health care;
Protecting the health of citizens in the Republic of Belarus;
Health of mother and child;
Struggle against infectious diseases and HIV/AIDS;
Water, sanitation and hygiene;
Policies on healthy lifestyles and medicines;
Aging and Health.

The exhibition will be useful to specialists in health care, health workers, researchers, teachers, university students, as well as anyone interested in health issues and issues of health care and a healthy lifestyle.

Useful references

The United Nations System