World Digestive Health Day (WDHD) is a public advocacy and awareness campaign, annually observed across the globe on 29 May to raise awareness of the prevention, prevalence, diagnosis, management, and treatment of digestive diseases or disorders worldwide.
- WDHD also highlights ways to mitigate the risk of Gastrointestinal (GI) disorders and associated complications.
The 2024 theme of WDHD is, “Your Digestive Health: Make It A Priority“.
- WDHD is annually organised by the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO).
- 29 May 2024 marks the 66th anniversary of the foundation of WGO.
Note:
WGO is a federation of over 100 Member Societies and 4 Regional Associations of gastroenterology representing over 60,000 individual members worldwide.
Background:
i.WDHD was established to commemorate the 45th anniversary of WGO in 2003 .
ii.WGO Was founded on 29 May 1958, on the last day of the 1st World Congress of Gastroenterology in Washington, the United States of America (USA).
iii.The 1st ever WDHD was observed on 29 May 2004.
iv.2005 was the 1st year that the Member Societies and members of WGO were invited to begin WDHD activities.
Note: WGO was constituted as “Organisation Mondiale de Gastro-entérologie” (OMGE), and the organisation was officially renamed WGO in May 2007.
Gastroenterology:
i.It is a branch of medicine that studies the normal function, diagnosis, diseases, and treatment of organs in the digestive system, including the GI tract (esophagus, stomach, small intestine, colon and rectum, pancreas, gallbladder, bile ducts, and liver).
ii.GI diseases affect the GI tract, from mouth to anus. There are 2 types of GI diseases: Functional disease and Structural disease.
iii.The principal functions of the GI tract are to digest and absorb ingested nutrients and to excrete waste products of digestion.
iv.The GI tract houses the intestinal or gut microbiota, a collection of microorganisms that live in the digestive tracts of animals.
- The gut microbiota includes bacteria, fungi, archaea, and viruses, and has a symbiotic relationship with the GI tract.
About World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO):
President– Professor Geoffrey Metz (Australia)
Headquarters– Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
