April 7 2026

On this World Health Day, the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) stands with healthcare workers and public health advocates in Canada and around the world in recognizing the importance of this year’s theme: Together for health. Stand with science the World Health Organization says the 2026 campaign highlights the power of scientific collaboration to protect the health of people, animals, plants, and the planet, with a strong focus on the One Health approach.

For NUPGE, this year’s message is clear: public health systems depend on evidence, coordination, and public trust. They depend on workers and on governments choosing science-based policy over privatization, underfunding, and short-term decisions that weaken care. WHO is calling on governments, health workers, institutions, and the public to “stand with science to protect lives, rebuild trust, and secure a healthier future.”

Across Canada, health care workers see every day what happens when health systems are stretched too far. Worker shortages, burnout, growing wait times, and the expansion of for-profit delivery continue to put pressure on the people who keep care running. Today, NUPGE is renewing its call for stronger public healthcare systems that are properly staffed, publicly delivered, and guided by evidence and the public interest.

This year’s WHO campaign also emphasizes that health does not exist in isolation. The One Health approach recognizes that human health is connected to animal health, plant health, and the environment. In a world shaped by infectious disease risks, climate pressures, food insecurity, and misinformation, this matters. The WHO says the 2026 campaign is a year-long effort to celebrate scientific collaboration to turn evidence into action. The current global focus on militarization and conflict undermines the investments we need in public health care and other critical public services.

NUPGE believes standing with science also means standing with the workers who apply knowledge, skill, and care every day in hospitals, clinics, labs, public health offices, long-term care homes, and communities. It means respecting expertise. It means investing in public systems. And it means rejecting policies that treat health care as a commodity instead of a public good.

This World Health Day, NUPGE is in solidarity with healthcare workers and public health advocates calling for action to protect our blood and plasma system, to implement full pharmacare, to address the health workforce crisis and to stop two-tier, for-profit health care.

With this in mind, NUPGE calls on governments in Canada to:

• invest in public healthcare and public health infrastructure;
• support recruitment and retention across the health workforce;
• strengthen evidence-based planning and decision-making; and
• protect a universal, public healthcare system that people can rely on.