WHO Plans Medical Care Of Mass Gatherings

The World Health Organisation(WHO) is working out a model for the medical  care and planning of mass gatherings.
The move is to develop a set of standards and recommendations that can be adopted and adapted for the medical (care) planning of mass gatherings following the conclusion of a successful two-day consultation held at the WHO office in Lyon, France last year November.
It will explore the proposal with a
a technical working group will now be set up to develop and discuss an early draft of the model in the first half of 2024.
With the  new Emergency Medical Teams (EMT) methodology of principles, standards and quality domains forming the bedrock of the work that will be followed by further consultations and testing of the agreed model with key stakeholders.
The workshop, which was organized by the WHO EMT and other Rapid Response Capacities Unit and Border Health and Mass Gatherings Unit, came on the back of work done in 2022 – including activities delivered as part of the Sport for Health partnership with the Ministry of Public Health of Qatar.
The world health apex body had identified that there are no minimum standards for the medical planning of mass gatherings, and that the EMT methodology, with adaptions, is well suited to respond to this need.
In attendance to discuss this proposal and share their experiences, insights, approaches and real-life challenges with the medical care planning of mass gatherings were senior professionals and leaders from 14 Member States
representing all six WHO regions, representatives from international organizations including the International Olympic Committee (IOC),the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and the International Criminal Police Organisation (Interpol), and experts from WHO Collaborating Centres on Mass Gatherings and Health Security.
As complex as the challenge is in developing standards for the medical care planning of mass gatherings – one of the central themes emerging from the workshop is aconsensus in applying the EMT methodology will deliver a model adaptable to diverse contexts and across different types of mass gathering events.
As one of the participants, Professor Pierre Carli, Chairman of the Hospital Emergency National Council in France, noted: “We have objectives. We have what countries have done and already do. And from that we can identify the missing tools in a toolbox that are needed. And the EMT initiative is clearly a good toolbox.”
On his part, Dr Flavio Salio, Network Leader of WHO’s Emergency Medical Teams Initiative, said: “I am confident that we can address the challenges and complexities posed by all types of events and contexts so that what we eventually develop as a model will be useful for every country.”