Sri Lanka plays host to 70th World Health Day

Monday, 9 April 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The 70th World Health Day of the World Health Organisation (WHO) was celebrated under the patronage of President Maithripala Sirisena at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre in Colombo on Saturday (7 April).

The main objective of WHO, established in 1948, is to enhance the health and wellbeing of the world’s population. For decades, WHO, together with other world partners and donor agencies, has been fully supportive in improving the health standard of Sri Lankans, including developing maternal and child health, nutrition and healthcare services.

World Health Day is celebrated on 7 April in every year, under the patronage of WHO, and hosting it this time in Sri Lanka could be regarded as an occasion of prestigious international recognition for Sri Lanka.

The theme of this year’s World Health Day was ‘Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere’.

A first day cover and a commemorative stamp were issued to mark the celebrations of World Health Day in Sri Lanka, and the Post Master General Rohana Abeyratne presented it to the President.

The President also symbolically launched the e-Health card and the National Health TV channel.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Deputy Minister Faizal Cassim, WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, and representatives of WHO participated in this event.

A special dinner hosted by President Maithripala Sirisena in honour of representatives of WHO, including WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, was also held at the President’s House in Colombo.