Wellness Week 2022 will be celebrated from September 10-16. This campaign began in 2011, and was inspired by the Caribbean Wellness Day, which is celebrated on the second Saturday of September.
This campaign is an opportunity to emphasize the importance of health promotion for the well-being of individuals and communities, and to emphasize a positive vision of health. The neighborhoods in which we live are important for fostering healthy lives and creating social cohesion; community engagement and implementing sustainable public policies and solutions are essential for creating health promoting neighborhoods. Therefore, this year’s campaign focuses on the neighborhoods as drivers and promoters of health.
Member States have committed to the Strategy and Plan of Action on Health Promotion within the Context of the Sustainable Development Goals 2019-2030 to strengthen healthy environments and facilitate community participation and empowerment and, the COVID19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of health promotion and community for wellbeing.
The slogan of the 2022 campaign is “Our Neighborhood, Our Health” and is in line with the topic of the World Health Day 2022: “Our Planet, Our Health”, which focused attention on the urgent actions needed to keep people and the planet healthy. The theme for this year’s campaign was chosen to foster societies focused on wellness, and is an invitation to promote health in the neighborhoods, especially in this phase of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. It also highlights the role that policies from all sectors and Government levels play in promoting healthy neighborhoods and communities.
The campaign seeks to:
1) Call countries to promote health and wellbeing in neighborhoods, through public policies that improve the environment and the conditions where people and communities live.
2) Invite individuals and communities to participate and get involved in promoting health and wellness in their neighborhoods.
Link to launch event of Wellness Week in the Americas 2022
Healthy Aging
 
Neighborhoods are an essential dimension of environments and as such, they play a fundamental role in promoting people’s well-being and health. Composed of a physical and built dimension, and a social one, they shape the lives of their inhabitants, generating their own unique identity.
A neighborhood in which to age healthily is a place in which all people, regardless of age, gender, sexual orientation and/or health condition, can participate actively and meaningfully, enhancing the intrinsic capacity of all individuals throughout the life course.
The role of a friendly city was and is essential in the context of COVID-19. During the critical years of the pandemic, friendly cities showed a positive impact in better identifying the needs and demands of older people. Now, in the current context of recovery, they also play a fundamental role in bringing older people back to enjoying life in the community.
 
Mental Health Stigma Reduction Campaign
 
#DoYourShare to support mental health
 
One of the most difficult public health challenges of our time is the fight against stigma in relation to mental health. Although mental health conditions are very common throughout the world, people living with them very often experience discrimination and are treated differently. Fear, misunderstanding, and judgment contribute to stigma, social exclusion, and discrimination that occur around people living with mental health disorders. It can occur with friends and family members and in all spheres of life; at home, school, workplace, and hospital both in rural and urban settings. Recovery from mental health conditions is possible. However, stigma and discrimination get in the way and prevent people to seek and get the help and care they need on the way to recovery.
Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization
© Pan American Health Organization. All rights reserved.

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