Bhubaneswar: World Health Day is celebrated on 7th April every year. The theme for 2021 was ‘Building a Fairer, Healthier world’. To mark the occasion of World Health Day 2021, Dept of Community Medicine and Family Medicine (CMFM), All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Bhubaneswar organized a webinar to discuss on how to address the challenges in tackling inequality in health, gender and society etc. The speakers for the webinar were Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya, National Professional Officer- Health Systems, WHO India, along with Prof (Dr.) Gitanjali Batmanabane, Director AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Prof. (Dr.) Debasish Hota, Dean AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Prof (Dr.) Sonu H Subha, HOD Dept of CM&FM, Dr. Binod K Patro, Additional Prof AIIMS Bhubaneswar, Mr Sourav Bhattacharjee, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF Odisha & Dr. Swayam Pragyan Parida, Associate Proffrom Dept of CMFM AIIMS Bhubaneswar.
The webinar began with an address note by Dr. Gitanjali Batmanabane, Director,AIIMS Bhubaneswar who raised concern over the issues of inequality in health care and emphasized on reflecting upon it. Dr. Debasish Hota, Dean AIIMS Bhubaneswar, stated that there should be fair distribution of opportunity and facility across all population of the world.
Addressing Health Care inequity, Dr. Chandrakant Lahariya opined that COVID 19 had aggravated the inequities in health across the world. He suggested with increase in health equities, improvement in health outcome will occur.
Speaking on Gender equality, Dr. Sonu H Subba, HOD of Community Medicineand Family Medicine, said, “Inequalities are loopholes that are draining our system” and India ranked 140 out of 156 in global gender gap index. She suggested ways to bridge the gender gap.
Mr. Sourav Bhattacharjee, Nutrition Specialist, UNICEF, Odisha shared that India is placed at 100th position out of 119 countries, in terms of food security & nearly 4 out of 10 children in India are stunted. He discussed the SDGs are aimed at ending hunger in the world by 2030.
Dr. Binod K Patro, Additional Professor, Dept. of CMFM, AIIMS Bhubaneswar stressed upon the inequalities in WASH services & its repercussions. He mentioned about the initiatives taken at international & national level towards improving WASH services.
Name of the winners of Painting and Debate competition that was organized among the students of AIIMS Bhubaneswar by the department, was also announced by Dr. Debasish Hota on the occasion of World Health Day. Vote of thanks was delivered by Dr. Prajna Paramita Giri, Assistant Professor, Department of CMFM, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. The webinar was also attended by BSC, MBBS students.
Various activities were undertaken in different centres such as Tangi, Mendhasal & Nayapalli under Dept. of CM&FM on the occasion of World Health day 2021. Some of the activities included starting of adolescent health clinic, screening of school children and health education session for the community members.
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