World Health Day 2017

7 April is World Health Day. This marks the annual awareness day of health around the globe, which is sponsored by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Celebrated annually since 1948, in honour of the first World Health Assembly, World Health Day serves to draw attention to a serious topic related to global health.

This year’s theme is depression, and WHO is running a campaign called ‘Depression: let’s talk’, to educate the public about living with depression and how to support those who have this condition.

The WHO website states that depression is the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide, and estimates that more than 300 million people are affected by depression.

Yet for these people, their condition often goes ignored, untreated and stigmatised. People with depression are often misunderstood and can feel isolated, which can make their feelings worse and turn to thoughts of self-harm and suicide.

Show your support by:

• Organising an activity, be it a discussion group, workshop, art competition or coffee morning
• Be available to talk. Sometimes people with depression aren’t ready to talk, but knowing someone is there and ready to listen can help them take that first step.

You can follow the World Health day events on Twitter using the hashtags #LetsTalk, #depression and #mentalhealth.