WHO backs IOC, France on well being information for Paris Olympics

The World Well being Group is supporting the Worldwide Olympic Committee (IOC) and France to make the world’s main sports activities spectacle, which formally begins this Friday, wholesome and protected.

The WHO and IOC launched the Let’s Transfer bodily exercise promotion marketing campaign, leveraging the ability of sport, and the platform of the Paris Olympics to encourage sports activities stars and the worldwide public to maneuver for higher well being.

“Simply as athletes and followers world wide have been getting ready for the Paris Olympics, WHO has been working with the IOC and the Authorities of France to verify these Video games are wholesome and protected for everybody concerned,” Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general mentioned.

“From selling bodily exercise to defending folks from a spread of well being threats, WHO has been proud to play its half in making the Paris Olympics a hit.”

The initiative by means of a memorandum of understanding was first signed in 2020 and renewed this yr.

Consistent with this marketing campaign, the French authorities has launched a programme of half-hour of day by day bodily exercise for college college students in France to make sure a long-lasting, wholesome legacy is left from the Paris Olympics.

WHO well being safety consultants at its Geneva-based headquarters and European Regional Workplace in Copenhagen have additionally been actively supporting nationwide and regional authorities to safeguard folks’s well being in the course of the planning and staging of the Video games, in addition to after.

This contains getting ready for potential health-related eventualities akin to heatwaves, infectious illness outbreaks, meals and water security hazards, terrorism, and crowd administration.

Joint public well being recommendation has been developed in collaboration with ECDC and France for travellers attending the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which begin on 28 August.

Steerage on vaccines travellers may have earlier than endeavor their journeys, defending towards varied diseases, akin to respiratory ailments or mosquito- and tick-borne diseases, and staying cool and hydrated has been developed for the tens of millions of individuals visiting France for this pinnacle occasion on the sports activities calendar.

WHO has participated within the IOC Paris 2024 simulation workout routines to check public well being plans, established Olympics-specific well being event-based surveillance, and is producing day by day scenario stories, in collaboration with the ECDC.

These stories are geared in the direction of capturing early alerts of any heath occasions detected and supporting any wanted well timed responses and are offered to the IOC and different companions.

Dr Tedros is amongst native and world figures collaborating within the Olympic Torch Relay on Friday, a day after talking on the Paris Summit on Sports activities for Sustainable Growth, hosted by the French Presidency and the IOC.

Throughout the Summit, WHO will make commitments to mobilize for diet forward of subsequent yr’s fourth Vitamin for Progress Summit in Paris, and increase assist to nations to enhance diets, promote bodily exercise, and supply providers to diagnose and handle weight problems, intending to scale back weight problems prevalence in focused nations by 5 per cent by 2030.