On the occasion of World Health Day, travellers at the New Delhi airport were greeted with health messages on baggage tags explaining how to protect themselves and their families from vector-borne diseases.

• Photo Story: Travellers at New Delhi, India airport tagged!

Mumbaikars were in for a surprise today. The iconic Mumbai dabbawalas delivered along with the dabba (lunch boxes), a specially created tag with simple messages about preventing and controlling vector-borne diseases, the theme of World Health Day 2014.

The famed dabbawalas have joined hands with WHO Country Office for India to create awareness about the ‘big threat of small bites’ and to motivate families and communities to protect themselves.

• How Mumbai dabbawalas delivered the message of World Health Day

While countries in South-East Asia have made substantial economic progress, diseases such as dengue and malaria fuel a vicious cycle of poverty and have a significant impact on socioeconomic status of communities. These diseases are still killing thousands of people in the WHO South-East Asia Region.

On World Health Day – 7 April – the World Health Organization is urging countries to prevent and control vector-borne diseases.

• Press Release
• World Health Day 2014

A quarter of the world population lives in the 11 countries of the Region – Bangladesh, Bhutan, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste. With this certification on 27 March 2014, 80% of the world’s population now lives in polio-free certified Regions.

• Press release
• More polio-free certification information