Dr Carl Heneghan, Director of The Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine was asked to speak at the World Health Day at the World Health Organization, alongside Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO.
World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April to mark the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948. Each year a theme is selected for World Health Day that highlights a priority area of public health concern in the world.
The theme for this year was high blood pressure: it is increasingly clear that high blood pressure contributes to a substantial number of deaths worldwide, with one in eight of all deaths globally attributable to high blood pressure. Therefore, the recognition and treatment of high blood pressure is a major priority for public health worldwide.
The invite reflects the ongoing collaboration the Department of Primary Care Health Sciences has with the WHO in relation to NonCommunicable Diseases. Both Dr Heneghan and Dr Ward have been working with the WHO, over the past two years, on a guideline for Self Care in NonCommunicable Diseases due for publication later this year.