Wellness Week 2024

Three human arms of different skin colors embraced a heart. It is surrounded by a scale of justice, trains and more under an umbrella.

 

September 14-20

Wellness Week has been celebrated since 2011 with the aim of reinforcing and promoting a positive view of health. Wellness Week 2024 will focus on social cohesion. It will take place between 14 and 20 September, with a regional launch on 16 September.

Social cohesion is understood as the capacity of a society to generate bonds of belonging and solidarity among its members, promoting the active inclusion of all people in community life. Thus, it is associated with the capacity to guarantee well-being and social justice, minimizing and/or eliminating marginalization and inequalities between social groups, territories and people.

Recognized as an important social determinant of health, social cohesion is related to better indicators of mortality, violence and prevalence of chronic non-communicable diseases, among others. For example, at the neighborhood level, there is evidence that greater social cohesion contributes to mitigating the effects of stressful life events, thus having a positive impact on the mental health of people in all age groups. Other recent examples can be found in the COVID-19 pandemic. Communities with more support networks, community involvement and collective care had a better response to the pandemic in terms of morbidity and mortality and equity.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) calls for promoting social cohesion by strengthening the active involvement of people in community life and collective decisions, expanding their impact and promoting the exchange of experiences, challenges and achievements in building healthier, more equitable and cohesive societies in the Americas.

The 2024 Wellness Week campaign aims to:

  • reinforce the importance of social cohesion as a social determinant of health for wellbeing and equity;
  • call on countries and legislators to promote public policies that strengthen social cohesion and foster more equitable and supportive societies;
  • call on countries and legislators to promote joint and coordinated work between all sectors in order to achieve greater social cohesion and, therefore, health, wellbeing and equity in health in the region;
  • promote social participation in the design, development and implementation of public policies, with special attention to vulnerable groups.

Stories about social cohesion in the UTOPIAS of Iztapalapa,
Mexico City

Wellness Week 2024
Regional Launch

September 16, 2024, 9:30am (EDT)

Participation

  • DATE: Monday, September 16, 2024
  • PARTICIPATION: virtual on ZOOM (with preregistration) or PAHO TV (livestreaming, no registration)
  • TIME: 9:30 – 10:30am (EDT, Washington)
  • LANGUAGES: English, Spanish, Portuguese

REGISTER

Link to the regional launch event page