Regarding World Health Day: One Health & Integral Health

Today, the World Health Organization (WHO) celebrates World Health Day. In the midst of the global health crisis that we have been experiencing for more than a year, the Silene association wants to emphasize the urgency of embracing the principles of comprehensive health (physical, mental and spiritual) and One Health ) with all its consequences.

We must, therefore, realize that human health also depends on spirituality: on the cultivation of interiority, on the practice of virtues, on giving meaning to existence … It is not because words do. ” “health” and “salvation” come from the same Latin word (“Salus, salutis”). Likewise, human health depends on our environment, both cultural (the society in which we live, with its values ​​and lifestyle, the economic system, etc.) and natural (air, water and food without pollutants , biodiversity, nearby green areas, etc.).

By the same token, we must also realize the need and urgency to stop self-destructive tendencies on a personal level (discouragement, unconsciousness …) and social (exploitation, inequality …); to address the causes and not just the symptoms, to prioritize prevention and to emphasize the importance of the deep connection with Nature for our health and that of the Earth. For this reason, Silene has supported, from the beginning, the Intersectoral Health and Nature Table, promoted by the Xarxa de Conservació de la Natura (Nature Conservation Network of Catalonia), which emerged from the Declaration on the interdependence between health and nature in Catalonia, enacted in 2019.