World Health Day 2021 comes at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has undercut recent health gains, pushed more people into poverty and food insecurity, and amplified gender, social and health inequities. The most severe pandemic in history was the Spanish flu of 1918. It lasted for two years in three waves with 500 million of people infected and 50 million deaths. The people felt so bad about the quarantine and social distancing measure that when they were first lifted, they rejoiced on the street. In the coming weeks, the second wave occurred, taking millions of lives. Let’s not repeat history in the time of Covid -19. This celebration aims to join hands together to be responsible to build a fairer and healthier world without repeating the past mistakes so that the sacrifices of the health heroes will not go in vain.
Every year, 7th April is celebrated as World Health Day to create awareness about health and wellbeing and draw the attention of people from all around the world on important health related issues. The Department of Community Health Nursing of Kalinga Institute of Nursing Sciences (KINS) organized a seminar and competitions to celebrate the occasion.
At the outset, Mrs. Truptirekha Swain, Assistant Professor, KINS welcomed all the participants to the program. Prof. Amarita Lenka, Principal, KINS unfolded the theme for the seminar given by WHO for the year 2021 – “Building A Fairer, Healthier World”. It is imperative to be prepared mentally, physically, and financially for all kinds of uncertainties during these constantly evolving times, she stated.
Mr. Dillip Ku. Dash, M.Sc(N) 2nd year, deliberated on the topic “Health inequality monitoring”. He explained the various ways of obtaining, analyzing and reporting of data relating to health inequality monitoring. Mr. Partha Sarathi Jena, M.Sc. (N) 2nd year, took a session on “New version of World Health Equity”. The Health Equity Assessment Toolkits (HEAT and HEAT plus) are part of a larger collection of tools and resources developed to support countries in monitoring health inequalities and strengthening their health information systems”, he added.
Ms. Sramana De, M.Sc. (N) 2ndyear, explained the significance of her topic “An urgent call to work together”. The last speaker for the day was Mr. Sivaji Lenka, Msc.(N) 1styear. He drew the pictures of the unaddressed and ugly truth of the society while speaking on his topic “Gender Equity and Human Rights”. He also elaborated the role of family, society and Nurses and health care workers in the context of gender equity and practicing the right.
A poster competition was also held on the theme. Distinguished judges, Dr. Dhirendra Singh, Associate Prof., School of Dental Sciences, Dr. Himanshu Shekhar Pradhan, Professor, KSPH and Dr. Manas Ranjan Behera, Associate Professor, KSPH helped in evaluating the poster. Ms. Sonali Subhalaxmi, Bsc (N)1st year, Ms. Anwesha Ghara, M.Sc. 1st year and Ms. Payel Das, B.Sc.(N) bagged the first, second and third prize. The vote of thanks was proposed by Mrs. Prativa Ray, Tutor KINS. The session was attended by around 200 participants through online and offline mode by the students and faculty and presenters respectively.