Healthy FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022; Creating a Legacy of Sport for All
With Qatar soon to take the centre stage of world sports, the World Health Organization and the Qatar Ministry of Public Health
are driving efforts to help make this year’s celebration of football, the “world’s game”, a beacon for health and safety, and a launchpad for sharing lessons with major sporting events in the future.
Set to be held in Doha from November 20 to December 18, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is a unique platform for us to promote health across the world and to communicate that sport and health go together. They are intertwined and, together, they play out in a celebration of joy, wellbeing, and solidarity for billions of people around the world.
The project aims to ensure the tournament will be a healthy and safe event and that the measures implemented and lessons learned will support the delivery of healthy and safe mega sporting events in the future.
The objectives of the project are to ensure both the delivery and legacy of a healthy and safe FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ by setting the event as an impactful, sustainable and lasting model that promotes integration of health, security and wellbeing for future mega sport events.
WHO is committed to working with the state of Qatar and FIFA to leverage the global power of football to help people the healthiest lives possible,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. WHO Director-General. “This partnership will help to make the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 a role model for healthy sporting events.
3 pillars of the project
The main pillars that the Healthy FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ project focus on are supporting people to practice healthy lifestyles, including through physical activity, healthy diets and tobacco cessation and control; promoting health security, with a focus on ensuring mass gatherings and events are safe; and advocacy and awareness-raising for health.
Pillar 1: Health Promotion
Physical activity:
Providing options for people to lead healthy lives is at the heart of health promotion, including through physical activity, which is a priority of the Healthy FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ project.
The project will promote ways for people to be able to increase physical activity, raise awareness of the importance of physical activity, and show how it can support people’s health in other ways, from mental health to tobacco prevention.
The objective is to increase levels of physical activity through national and sub national policy and interventions aimed at:
- Increasing knowledge, awareness and motivation;
- Creating enabling physical environments;
- Increasing access to physical activity, exercise and sports programs and services; and
- Strengthening governance and information systems to support sustained and effective implementation.
The project aims to reach millions of people inside Qatar, and those travelling to the country for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™, as well as to build a legacy after the tournament of promoting physical activity to people worldwide, including through the use of digital technology.
The State of Qatar is proud to be the first country from the Middle East to host the FIFA Qorld Cup,” said HE Dr Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Qatar’s Minister of Public Health and Chair of the Steering Committee Meeting. “Our overall goal is not just to hold a successful sporting event, but to also show how football and sports in general can be drivers of better health for all people. This is why we are working so closely with WHO, FIFA and the Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy.
Healthy food:
Consuming a healthy diet throughout our lives contributes greatly to promoting healthy lives. Promoting access to healthy food and healthy food environments is a priority of the Healthy FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ project.
A healthy diet can prevent all forms of malnutrition as well as diabetes, cancers and other non-communicable diseases.
An objective of the project is to promote and protect healthy food and healthy food environments by focusing on healthy diets in and around sports stadia involved in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and hundreds of schools; and at community level, by developing, implementing, monitoring and enforcing comprehensive policy for healthy, safe and sustainable food.
Pillar 2: Health Security
Working to ensure the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ is a safe and secure event, and that the legacy of such measures continues after the tournament in support of other mega sports events, is a major focus of the Healthy FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ project.
WHO and the Qatar Ministry of Public Health are collaborating, with FIFA, to support actions to make the World Cup events safe through the prevention of health risks and hazards. As part of this, the project will address measures to protect athletes and youth.
Pillar 3: Awareness-raising
Through the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ and legacy events, the Healthy FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ project promotes actions to help people of all ages stay healthy and safe.
To do this, the project involves collaboration with sports audiences worldwide, spectators and participants at the Qatar tournament, and the many FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ partners committed to promoting and protecting public physical and mental health and wellbeing.
References
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/9/7/creating-a-legacy-of-sport-for-health
https://www.who.int/initiatives/sports-and-health
https://www.who.int/initiatives/sports-and-health/healthy-2022-world-cup
