Strengthening public health: making the case for mass gatherings

Overview

Mass gatherings like sporting events or religious pilgrimages are highly visible events attended by a sufficient number of people to potentially strain the public health resources of the hosting community, city or country. Potential public health risks created by mass gathering events thus require considerable preparedness and response capabilities on the part of the hosting community and may even represent significant challenges for the health care system as a whole. The high visibility of mass gatherings and the political commitment required to host them can be leveraged to strengthen the emergency preparedness of the health system, including core capacities under the International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005). The enhancement of the public health system for a specific event may leave a positive legacy for the health system as a whole, especially if this enhancement includes capacity development and appropriate health technology investment. At the request of a Member State, the WHO Regional Office for Europe, in collaboration with WHO headquarters and the network of WHO collaborating centres on mass gatherings, has provided advice and technical support for mass gatherings, including in Poland (2016 World Youth Day), Spain (2017 World Pride Festival) and Turkmenistan (2017 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games), to ensure that such large international events are as safe as possible from public health risks and to encourage a positive public health legacy. No major public health incident was reported in the three countries during and in the aftermath of the above-mentioned events.