China’s Public Safety Events: A Call to Action

China's Public Safety Events: A Call to Action.

On the evening of December 31, 2014, a stampede in Shanghai’s Chen Yi Square killed 35 people and left 43 injured. A tragedy of this magnitude in such a large city sends shockwaves throughout the country, and many are struck with sorrow after the loss of 35 lives. In recent years, stampede accidents have occurred with greater frequency in China. In 2002 a stampede through a middle school in Inn...

Road safety: A call for action

The Global Burden of Disease study, undertaken by the World Health Organization (WHO), Harvard University and the World Bank, showed that in 1990, traffic crashes were assessed to be the world's ninth most important health problem. The study forecasts that, by the year 2020, road crashes would move up to third place in the table of leading causes of death and disability facing the world communi...

Patient safety: a(nother) call for action.

Public – private 'partnerships' in health – a global call to action

The need for public-private partnerships arose against the backdrop of inadequacies on the part of the public sector to provide public good on their own, in an efficient and effective manner, owing to lack of resources and management issues. These considerations led to the evolution of a range of interface arrangements that brought together organizations with the mandate to offer public good on...

WHO events addressing public health priorities. Promoting physical activity: a regional call for action.

Why is physical activity important? Physical activity is critical for population health. There is overwhelming evidence that physical inactivity is a risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, premature death and disability. It is responsible for 3.2 million deaths globally each year and is estimated to be the main cause of around 27% of diabetes, 30% of ischaemic heart disease and 21–25% of bre...