Author: Abhishek Singh

World Hypertension Day is celebrated every year on May 17th by the World Hypertension League (WHL) an umbrella organization of 85 national hypertension societies and leagues from around the world. The main objective of the day is to raise the awareness of people about hypertension, its causes and effects. Hypertension is actually High Blood Pressure and most of the times people couldn’t identify the symptoms or tend to neglect them. The day also stresses on the recommended blood pressure level for normal population to be 140/90 mmHg and for people with diabetes and other ailments to be 130/80 mmHg. By celebrating World Hypertension Day, the League not only intends to raise awareness about hypertension but also to aware the masses about its causes and prevention. It also aims at instigating people to regularly measure their blood pressure by using home monitors. Various events the world over are organized by World Hypertension League and other stake holders on World Hypertension Day. Exhibitions of medical equipments for measuring blood pressure are organized. Doctors make people aware of the symptoms, effects and causes of hypertension, insisting that they should check their blood pressure at least once a year. The need of a healthy diet and exercising is stressed upon. People are advised to quit habits those cause hypertension- smoking, liquor consumption, junk foods etc. Free blood pressure checking camps are organized in...

International Nurses Day is celebrated on 12th May every year in the honour of the contribution made by the nurses to the society. The day also marks the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale (12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910), an English Nurse, statistician and social reformer. She was awarded several distinguished honours like OM (Order of Merit), RRC (Royal Red Cross) and DStj (Order of St John) for her exceptional service as a nurse in military and civil society. Florence Nightingale is also considered the pioneer of modern nursing as she laid the foundation of world’s first professional nursing school at St Thomas hospital in London. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has been celebrating International Nurses Day since 1965. In 1974 the ICN decided on celebrating the day on 12th May to honour the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale. International Nurses Day is celebrated the world over by many countries. International Council of Nurses prepares and distributes kits containing education and public information material, for the nurses across the world. All over the world nurses with distinguished service are honoured and awarded. Various events are held in hospitals and nursing schools. These events are mainly commemorative, stressing on the role and contribution of the nurses to the society. In India too, the day is celebrated across all the private and government hospitals along with the PHCs (Primary...

World no Tobacco Day is an annual event observed globally on 31st May to encourage people to abstain from all forms of tobacco consumption for 24  hours. The day also stresses to raise awareness about the ill effects of tobacco consumption. The day was created by the member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1987 and is one of its eight global public health campaigns along with World Blood Donor Day, World Health Day, World Malaria Day, World AIDS Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day and World Hepatitis Day. Tobacco causes around 7 million deaths globally, including nearly one million victims who are exposed to passive smoking. World no Tobacco Day is celebrated with huge participation from governments, general public and other stake holders. The World Health Organization serves as the main coordinator of the events around the globe. It also let the detail of events uploaded on its website, by people from various corners of the world. Governments celebrate the day with civil societies, NGOs and other members. People and communities are encouraged to celebrate World no Tobacco Day in their own way. Stress is put upon connecting to the people at local level. The day has also faced opposition from many tobacco growers who thought such events to be compromising their rights. They give the argument that such campaigns harm the poor tobacco growers...