Our supreme right...our health!

World Health Day is celebrated every year on April 7 and marks the anniversary of the founding of the World Health Organization, a specialized UN agency for public health issues, in 1948. Each year, a theme is chosen - such as pandemics, access to health services, inequalities in care - with the aim of informing the public and promoting actions that will upgrade the quality of care and lives of citizens.

The theme of World Health Day 2025 is: "Healthy Beginnings, Promising Futures" and focuses on improving maternal and newborn health and survival.

The health of mothers and children is the cornerstone of healthy families and communities, and if ensured, we can aim for a hopeful future.

Evidence shows that spending on maternal and newborn health leads to economic growth and happier, healthier societies.

The language of numbers is disappointing as:
• Nearly 300,000 women lose their lives due to pregnancy or childbirth every year.
• More than 2 million babies die in the first month of life.
• Approximately 2 million babies are stillborn.
• Complications related to prematurity are the leading cause of death of children under 5 years of age worldwide.

The vast majority of maternal and newborn deaths occur in the poorest countries and those facing war and other crises. Because medical and hospital care is lacking in these countries, pregnant women and babies - who are among the most vulnerable - face serious and often life-threatening risks.

This year's campaign, which will last until 2026, aims to:
• to raise awareness about the problems of maternal and newborn survival and to prioritize the long-term health and well-being of women.
• Strengthen investments in women's and infant health.
• Encourage collective actions to support parents and health professionals.
• Through family planning services, to provide services and information related to pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period.

It is only when we lose our health that we appreciate it the most. In the rush of life, in our daily struggle to catch up with everything and acquire even more, we forget that in front of health, everything else is simply zero.
And when we lose it, then the “important” things become insignificant. But we forget that health starts with our soul and ends with the body. And when the soul weeps, the body gets sick.

We can protect ourselves by choosing a healthy lifestyle. By incorporating exercise, a Mediterranean diet, adequate sleep into our daily lives and reducing smoking, alcohol and a sedentary lifestyle to a minimum. And as “prevention is better than cure”, let us not neglect our annual preventive examinations according to our age and gender! And most importantly…take care of our mental health. Away from stress, from unexpressed emotions that stagnate within us, from worries, from anger, from toxic people.

We say yes to tranquility, to the people we love, to activities that revitalize our soul and mind in contact with nature. All of this together is our quiver to protect ourselves and face the disease if and when necessary!

For all of us who are struggling ourselves or a loved one to (re)gain their health, we know that nothing is worth as much as health! For us, the "scales" of life have a different hierarchy of values, as we know that a moment is enough to turn everything upside down.

Our wish… may the day come when there will be no pain of soul or body and that those who fight their personal battle will emerge victorious. We envision and deserve a world where all people will have equal rights of access to health services. Without discrimination and inequalities. A world with empty hospital beds, a world where the diseases that scare us today will simply be a bitter memory of tomorrow.

So that we can all celebrate healthy and enjoy every day of our lives!

We deserve it!

Written by Marianna Metaxa

Educator, Author of the books "My Sweet Kelly" and the fairy tale "Melita and Zacharoulis" and lyricist of the song "Listen to My Heart"

Article sources: World Health Organization (WHO)