Today is World Health Day 2026, and the World Health Organization has chosen a theme that should make governments and communities think harder: “Together for health. Stand with science.” WHO says the day begins a year-long campaign focused on scientific collaboration, evidence-based action and the One Health approach. That is important. But it is only part of the picture. A society does not become healthy simply because it values medicine. It becomes healthier when people are able to live without coercion, intimidation or violence.
That matters because health is too often discussed as though it begins in a clinic. It does not. It begins in the home, family, school and street, and in the rules that shape whether someone can say no without punishment. A girl being pressured into marriage is not safe. A young woman living under control is not free. A person who is frightened to refuse does not enjoy good health in any meaningful sense, however normal life may appear from outside.
In England and Wales, the legal and safeguarding position is clear. Forced marriage is illegal. Government guidance describes it as domestic abuse and a serious abuse of human rights. It includes a marriage where one or both people do not or cannot consent and pressure or abuse is used. Causing someone under 18 to enter a marriage is also an offence, even where coercion is not proved.
Those points tell us something larger about health. When choice is stripped away, the damage is legal, social, physical and psychological. Fear settles into daily life. Confidence narrows. Trust is broken. The future becomes something managed by others.
WHO asks the world to stand with science. We should. Evidence also requires us to recognise that coercion and chronic fear damage wellbeing. Health policy cannot sit in one room while safeguarding sits in another.
Much of my work has involved listening to what happens when fear is normalised and silence is mistaken for agreement. Coercion is often hidden behind words such as family, duty, culture, reputation or shame. It thrives when adults hesitate, minimise risk or tell themselves it is none of their business.
That is why prevention matters. Schools need the confidence to talk plainly. Police, teachers, health workers and safeguarding leads must understand that silence does not mean consent. Families and communities need a message that is simple and non-negotiable: tradition does not excuse abuse.
World Health Day is often used to speak about disease, treatment and public systems. All of that matters. It should also ask a harder question: what kind of life are we protecting? If someone cannot choose freely, refuse safely or live without fear of control, there is something hollow about calling that a healthy society.
Health must mean more than access to treatment. It must include safety, bodily autonomy, consent and the right to live without fear.
Health means more than survival. It means freedom.
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By Aneeta Prem MBE
7 April 2026
