GENEVA — Marking its 77th anniversary with an urgent global mobilization, the World Health Organization (WHO), alongside more than one hundred of its global offices, has spearheaded wide-ranging public advocacy actions in observance of World Health Day 2025. Dedicated to the vital theme "Healthier beginnings, hopeful futures," this year’s landmark campaign centers squarely on the preservation, protection, and enhancement of maternal and newborn health care services worldwide.
The coordinated global response, carried out on April 7, 2025, brought together Member States, local communities, frontline health workers, partner and donor agencies, and civil society organizations in a unified stand. The unprecedented international action comes at a critical juncture for the global health sector, serving to highlight the profound importance of safeguarding essential health services for mothers and newborns that are increasingly imperiled by severe funding challenges and looming financial aid cuts.
In Chile, exemplifying the localized approach adopted by regional offices worldwide, PAHO/WHO Chile Country Representative Giovanni Escalante Guzmán participated directly in community dialogues alongside Mapuche leader Juana Cheuquepan. Together, they engaged in high-level discussions focusing on "mother and newborn health as the basis for healthy families and communities," underscoring the vital integration of traditional community leadership and public health advocacy in protecting vulnerable populations.
The worldwide actions undertaken across multiple continents serve as a robust and immediate response to a stark warning issued by United Nations agencies on World Health Day. UN leadership has raised urgent alarms that ongoing funding constraints threaten to reverse decades of fragile progress, potentially precipitating major backsliding in the global effort to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths.
World Health Day 2025 not only commemorates seventy-seven years of public health achievements by the World Health Organization since its founding, but it also officially kicks off an intensive, year-long global campaign dedicated to maternal and newborn health. Throughout the coming year, the WHO is urging governments, policymakers, international partners, and the broader global health community to significantly ramp up their efforts, secure vital financing, and prioritize both immediate survival and the longer-term health and well-being of women everywhere.
