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On April 7, 1948, the constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) came into force — the UN's specialised agency for global health affairs. April 7 is celebrated as World Health Day. The WHO coordinated the eradication of smallpox (1980), the response to pandemics like COVID-19 (2020) and the global distribution of vaccines through the COVAX programme.

On April 7, 1945, the Japanese battleship Yamato — the largest in history at 72,000 tonnes — was sunk in the East China Sea by American aircraft while heading to Okinawa on a suicide mission with fuel for only a one-way trip. More than 3,000 sailors died. The sinking of the Yamato symbolised the definitive decline of the great battleship as a weapon of war in the face of naval aviation.

On April 7, 1770, composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany — though his exact birth date is uncertain: he was baptised on December 17, 1770. What is certain is that Beethoven, who began losing his hearing from age 28, composed some of his most important works while completely deaf, including his Ninth Symphony, which he conducted without being able to hear a single note.