The theme for World Health Day this year is “Together for Health – Standing with Science.”
In a message from the WCC Commission of the Churches on Health and Healing, commission moderator Rev. Dr Stavros Kofinas reflected that we must understand health as a positive, multidimensional reality that encompasses social, personal, and environmental factors.
“If one suffers, all parts suffer,” he saId. “Much emphasis has been placed on the crisis facing today’s natural environment, which is indeed under threat, and, in turn, places all form of life at risk.”
If our natural environment is in crisis, it is not only because of the pollution caused by our industries, but because of the way our social environment is now shaped, Kofinas said.
“Our social environment is formed by our family environment, our political environment, our religious environments, our educational environment, our occupational environment, and even the environment of our health systems,” he said. “Today we must admit that each of these components of our environment are facing crucial issues that are leading to our world’s possible annihilation.”
First and foremost are the destructive wars that are taking place to gain power and control over natural sources of energy, Kofinas added.
“Violent destruction provokes destructive anger,” he said. “Greed seems to predominate, which in turn brings on a lack of trust, and this lack of trust creates more insecurities and a rise of defensive acts.”
Kofinas also reflected that people today invest a great amount of time and energy in developing a healthy way of life. “We must note that there has been a great deal of effort in promoting the need to save our natural environment as well,” he said. “There is no doubt that both efforts are necessary.”
We must become peacemakers and find ways to end the horrific destructive wars and the poverty that take so many lives, Kofinas urged. “We must become benevolent and simple in our way of life instead of being imprisoned by our desire to gain more possessions,” he said. “Finally, we must become compassionate and merciful to those that suffer. By doing these things, we will be true caretakers of all that composes our environment and we will endure a healthy state of being, not only for our individual selves, but for the world at large.”
A reflection offered during the prayer recognised science as one of God’s good gifts. “It is not given to feed greed or ego or to amass wealth and power, but as a means through which truth is sought, suffering is reduced, and life is protected,” the reflection said. “When scientific knowledge is joined with wisdom, humility, and love of neighbour, it can become a powerful tool in God’s work of healing.”
