Caidya’s Post

World Health Organization teams up with International Olympic Committee – IOC and #France to support #healthy #Paris 2024 #Olympics The WHO is taking part in the Paris Olympics in multiple fields, supporting the IOC and France to help make the world’s leading sport spectacle, which officially starts this Friday, healthy and safe for spectators and athletes alike “Just as athletes and fans around the world have been preparing for the Paris Olympics, WHO has been working with the IOC and the Gouvernement of France to make sure these Games are healthy and safe for everyone involved,” said WHO DG Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “From promoting physical activity to protecting people from a range of health threats, WHO has been proud to play its part in making the Paris Olympics a success” WHO and the IOC, close partners through a MoU first signed in 2020 and renewed this year, have launched the Let’s Move physical activity promotion campaign, leveraging the power of sport, and the platform of the Paris Olympics, to motivate sports stars and the global public to move for better health In line with this campaign, the French Government has introduced a programme of 30 minutes of daily physical activity for school students in France to ensure a lasting, healthy legacy is left from the Paris Olympics WHO health security experts at its HQ and WHO Regional Office for Europe have also been actively supporting national and regional authorities to safeguard people’s #health during the planning and staging of the Games, as well as after. This includes preparing for potential health-related scenarios such as #heatwaves, #infectious #disease #outbreaks, #food and #water #safety hazards, #terrorism and crowd management     Joint #publichealth advice has been developed in collaboration with European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and France for travellers attending the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, which start 28 August Guidance on #vaccines travellers may need before undertaking their journeys, protecting against various illnesses, such as respiratory diseases or mosquito- and tick-borne illnesses, and staying cool and hydrated has been developed for the millions of people visiting France for this pinnacle event on the sports calendar WHO has participated in the IOC Paris 2024 simulation exercises to test public health plans, established Olympics-specific health event-based #surveillance and is producing daily situation reports, in collaboration with the ECDC. These reports are geared towards capturing early signals of any heath events detected and supporting any needed timely responses and are provided to the IOC and partners Tedros is among local and global figures taking part in the Olympic Torch Relay on Friday, a day after speaking at the Paris Summit on Sports for Sustainable Development, hosted by Emmanuel Macron and the IOC https://lnkd.in/dQuEAprU  

Introduction by Croakey: Reports of Olympian athletes competing with COVID-19 raise questions about the apparent lack of public health measures in place to better protect the athletes as well as spectators, support teams, staff and volunteers. Elite athletes generally have a lower risk of developing severe illness than general populations – however, they are not immune to impacts from the virus, with some withdrawing from Olympic events due to COVID. “COVID also takes a more serious toll on the body than either colds or the flu,” Dr Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease doctor at University of California, San Fransisco Health, told Scientific American. “While most Olympic athletes are healthy and have access to cutting-edge medications, young people sometimes display mixed responses to infection.” The risk of COVID infection for others at Olympic venues and events also needs to be considered. As we turn to the Paralympics on 28 August, Dr Bronwyn King AO – a public health leader and former elite swimmer and Australian Swimming Team doctor – provides some timely suggestions for how large events can be managed in the future. King, who is also Burnet Institute special advisor on clean air, says that enhanced mitigations “could better protect everyone in the Olympic community”. She also suggests that if it’s good enough for Australian Olympians to be supplied with an antiviral medication for COVID for free, it should be good enough for all Australians. This is the first story in a two-part Croakey series on the COVID Olympics.

This new collaboration is bringing together health and sport stakeholders to increase access to community sport activities as a key contribution to the global #NCD target of reducing physical inactivity by 15% by 2030 👇

Olympics and pandemics - one of the many (but more or less balanced) articles about the Paris Olympics, where many athletes have competed while having COVID-19. Cf: Risk-based management of international sporting events during the COVID-19 pandemic. Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 102 (‎8)‎, 608 - 614. World Health Organization. (which was submitted in 2023, but in true WHO fashion was published only recently). https://lnkd.in/gJJi7p33 https://lnkd.in/g4NPzqEs

🏅 The Tokyo 2020 & Beijing 2022 Olympics faced unprecedented challenges due to COVID-19, transforming how we approach mass gatherings during a pandemic. Through meticulous planning, vaccination, and testing, both Games set a new standard for safety and epidemic preparedness. 👉Discover how these events navigated the pandemic and what future mass gatherings can learn from their experience in this article by Associate Scholar Lucia Mullen and colleagues: https://lnkd.in/daiBiNYK

This week, the World Health Organization reported that 1.8 billion adults are at risk of disease due to insufficient physical activity levels. In Australia, traditional sports' retention rates remain alarmingly low, with significant declines in participation beyond the age of 14. The Australian Sports Commission's Play Well strategy highlights a critical issue: “The sport landscape is largely inflexible, and its traditional structures increasingly don’t meet the expectations of today’s society.” #SportLeaders, it’s time to reflect: What is the relevance of our traditional #SportDevelopment approach to the physical, mental, and social health of our nation? Are our current systems and organisations capable of the necessary change to tackle physical inactivity and its associated inequalities, or should we be exploring alternative models? Drawing from my experience in globally diverse systems and settings, I’ve summarised several alternatives that I believe deserve consideration in conjunction with the current approach when considering future Australian sport planning, policy, and investment approaches. I look forward to your thoughts on this and hope it's useful. Read more at https://lnkd.in/gkcZVV3j #PhysicalActivity #SportDevelopment #SportForImpact Sport New Zealand International Olympic Committee – IOC

The focus is understandably on athletes in the attached as it came from a consensus statement by the IOC on mitigation measures to safeguard athletes health. There is also the risk from extreme summer temperatures to the wider and larger number of staff and volunteers working outside for long periods of time, not to mention spectators. “Unfortunately, the level of environmental heat stress experienced by elite athletes will continue to rise in the coming years due to a combination of the increased prevalence, intensity and duration of bouts of … heat waves that are occurring due to climate change, and sport globalisation leading to more competitions being organised in extremely hot climates.” In the Guardian piece you can click through to the British Journal of Sports Medicine and authors of the 'IOC consensus statement on recommendations and regulations for sports events in the heat'. An interesting read for both event organisers and athletes, detailing all sorts of risk mitigation measures for major summer events. Not mentioned, but perhaps the time has come for international federations to review their global calendars, reduce the number of events and re-schedule those traditional summer outdoor competitions away from the extreme temperature months? https://lnkd.in/gQVif4xf

The COVID-19 pandemic reshaped major events like the Tokyo and Beijing Olympics. Initially postponed due to COVID-19, Tokyo 2020 took place in 2021 with rigorous safety measures, showcasing the success of mitigation strategies. Beijing 2022 followed suit, implementing lessons from Tokyo, emphasizing the importance of effective testing and comprehensive plans. Through modeling possible SARS-CoV-2 testing strategies for effectiveness prior to the 2021 games, OHT researchers, Chirag Kumar and Dr. Ramanan Laxminarayan, and colleagues contributed to the events' success. Both events proved that with proper risk assessment and communication, mass gatherings are possible during a pandemic, leaving lasting impacts on public health and epidemic preparedness. Read about their work and lessons learned from the events in The Lancet here: https://lnkd.in/daiBiNYK #Olympics #COVID19Impact

🌍 As Paris gears up for the 2024 Olympics, health and safety take center stage. Here are key areas of focus: 1️⃣ Beat the Heat: With rising temperatures, the threat of heat-related illnesses is real. Plans include more hydration points, cooling zones, and training for medical teams to swiftly address heat stroke signs. 2️⃣ Mind the Air: Tackling air pollution is vital for the well-being of athletes and spectators alike. Efforts include stricter emission controls and promoting green transport to improve air quality in one of Europe's most polluted cities. 3️⃣ Stay Healthy, Stay Strong: Post-pandemic, the emphasis on communicable disease prevention and mental health support is stronger than ever. Strategies range from robust disease surveillance and vaccination to offering mental health services for all participants. 🏅 While the Paris 2024 Olympics aim for a spectacular celebration of sports, ensuring the health and well-being of everyone involved remains a top priority. Check out this blog by Crisis24 Chief Medical Officer Dr. Adrian Hyzler and learn about what efforts your organization should consider to pave the way for a safe and successful event! #Paris2024 #Olympics #HealthAndSafety #SustainableEvents

Going for gold: if there was an Olympics for healthy ageing, how would your country perform? Imagine if there was an Olympics for healthy ageing. Imagine if your country was competing; how would it perform? Would it win a medal for life expectancy? Do you think it would win gold for preventative health? These are some of the questions we’re exploring as part of our Going for gold project. In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics, we’ll be looking at how countries perform across a range of “healthy ageing” events and disciplines. With the 2024 Olympics just four months away, this summer presents a perfect opportunity to engage with global policymakers and health stakeholders heading to Paris for the world’s biggest sporting event. Using existing data from ILC’s Healthy Ageing and Prevention Index, as well as other global health data sources, we will be compiling our very own “Healthy Ageing Medal Table” that ranks countries across eight events. We’ll be using the titles of existing Olympic disciplines but putting our own spin on them, tying them to healthy ageing and prevention topics such as immunisation, physical activity, and life expectancy. Our preliminary findings have highlighted some interesting results. While two countries stand out, perhaps less obvious countries also perform well. So far, we’ve found that: A country that has competed at the Commonwealth Games, but never at the Olympics, wins a gold and a bronze medal. Another country that wins a gold medal has never one an actual medal at the Olympics since first participating in 1920. Three countries have won more than one medal; two are from Asia, one is from Oceania. Two countries have each won a silver medal and are in the Top 10 on our Index. One country with a gold medal has a population of 1,600, while another has a population of 126 million. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing more details about our eight events and our medallists. Until then, have a guess at who our winners are by emailing PatrickSwain@ilcuk.org.uk. Save the date for our medal ceremony On 16 July, we will be hosting an event in Paris to present medals to delegates from the best-performing countries. We’ll use our findings to spotlight where countries could do better by investing in preventative health and taking bolder actions on healthy ageing, to support people around the world to live better for longer. Visit our programme page for more details and to keep up to date with our findings.