Every year, the 7th of April is celebrated as World Health Day. This year the comes as the world is fighting against the pandemic of the novel coronavirus which is regarded as one of the biggest battles the global populations have had since the middle of the 20th century. This pandemic uncovered a big gap in the readiness of most healthcare systems around the world to deal with such an outbreak, especially among the advanced economies that create and deploy sophisticated technologies in several other sectors.

Therefore, governments and global leaders need to rethink the strategies they used to implement prior to the spread of COVID-19. The lack of medical supplies risks the lives of patients and healthcare specialists alike. Without protective equipment doctors and nurses become more vulnerable to catch the virus. At the same time, the severe shortage of ventilators and ICU beds in many countries have resulted in several tragic death incidents that could have been avoided, had sufficient medical supplies been available.

Unfortunate, it was dreadful to see than many of the doctors and nurses who were treating COVID-19 patients become sick and some of them passed away after they were infected. While there are not official statistics about the number of healthcare service providers who died because of the novel coronavirus, reports showed that at least 23 doctors died in Italy, 25 in Indonesia, nine in the Philippines, four in the UK and several others in many countries. Losing them is doubly devastating because when they live, they save other people’s lives as well.

The efforts of healthcare front-liners have been widely recognised and the stress they experience as they help infected patients while trying to keep themselves fit is greatly acknowledged. It took some time for policymakers to realise the risks this pandemic poses on doctors and nurses, and take actions to support them. But it is hoped that as the COVID-19 is contained better measures will be followed in the future to avoid making the same mistakes. The budgets allocated for healthcare systems in most countries need to be revised and significantly increased.

The World Health Organisation started the World Health Day campaign in 1950 with the motive of promoting awareness about physical and mental health and offer the necessary support. The main aim is to create awareness of a specific health theme to highlight a priority area of concern for the WHO. This year's day is dedicated to nurses and midwives with an aim to remind world leaders of the critical role they play in keeping the world healthy.