World Health Day celebrated April 7
Patient Safety Monitor Alert
April 8, 2009
On April 7, the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated World Health Day. This year's celebration focused on how to save lives during emergency situations, like natural disasters. Spurred on by last year's massive earthquake in China that killed more than 78,000 people, the WHO has recommended six main actions for healthcare facilities across the world to take:
- Assess the safety of hospitals
- Protect and train health workers for emergencies
- Plan for emergency response
- Design and build resilient hospitals
- Adopt national policies and programs for safe hospitals
- Protect equipment, medicines, and supplies
