Our Planet, Our Health

April 7th, World Health Day and USERN 2022

Theme: Our planet, Our health

Does it really matter to prevent our planet from being polluted?!

Should we focus on a healthier planet while an infectious disease called COVID-19 killed more than 6 million people worldwide in only two years?!

Why our health depends on our planet's health?!

Unfortunately, human decisions have led to climate change during the past decades, which ultimately cause a health crisis. Nowadays, climate change is as dangerous as to be considered a health emergency as Dr. Maria Neira, WHO Director of Environment, Climate Change and Health, said:

"It has never been clearer that the climate crisis is one of the most urgent health emergencies we all face"

Moreover, climate changes lead to global warming, extreme weather events, water scarcity, land degradation, mosquito-borne diseases, etc. Based on WHO reports, over 90% of people breathe unhealthy air and 2 billion people lack safe drinking water worldwide which can cause various diseases, including respiratory diseases, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, etc.

According to WHO, welfare is something beyond the absence of illness; it is the state of feeling happy and healthy not only physiologically and mentally but also socially and spiritually. Hence, any effort we make today would definitely reflect on our health tomorrow. Since our health is directly affected by our environment, any step to develop a healthier environment such as claiming strict policies supporting pollution elimination would indeed influence human welfare. Thus, increased public awareness of environmental concerns is one of the potentials that could yield significant outcomes if appropriately implemented.

To increase public awareness of environmental concerns, we are proud to announce that USERN dedicated the 4th day of the 6th USERN Congress and Prize Awarding Festival held on 9th November 2021 to the issue of "Save the Nature". On the 4th day of the 6th USERN Congress, 12 webinars on various topics related to environmental sciences were presented by speakers from 7 different countries and 4 continents to demonstrate the need for global unity to preserve the earth. Also, in this regard, a book entitled "Enhancing environmental education through nature-based solutions", was recently published by USERN.

Let's imagine a world with clean air, water, and food in which people have control over their health. 

So, let's join forces to create a fantastic healthier worl! 

Happy "World Health Day and USERN"!

References:

1) https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---5-april-2022

2) https://www.who.int/campaigns/world-health-day/2022

3) https://userncongress.tums.ac.ir/congress2021/

4) https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-91843-9