Qatar, WHO announce to make World Cup 2022 a ‘healthy event’

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NL Today

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Kathmandu: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the State of Qatar, the organizer of 2022 World Cup, have affirmed to make the world’s biggest football event an occasion to promote healthy lifestyles, health security, and physical and psychological safety of all.

The announcement was made during a joint event at WHO headquarters in Geneva where Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr. Hanan Mohamed Al-Kuwari, Minister of Public Health of Qatar, Hassan Al-Thawadi, Secretary-General of the Qatar Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, and Gianni Infantino President of the International Football Association (FIFA) participated.

Qatar is hosting the World Cup 2022 from November 21 to December 18 next year.

In addition, the project aims to achieve the primary objective of identifying and translating best practices in promoting health, security and safety, as practiced in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, for use in major sporting events around the world.

In the event, Dr. Tedros thanked Qatar for focusing on health. “I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to the State of Qatar for cooperating with the World Health Organization to make the 2022 FIFA World Cup a role model in healthy sporting events.  The organization is committed to working with Qatar and FIFA to harness the global power of football to help people lead healthier and safer lives,” said Dr. Tredors. “This event provides a unique opportunity to show how sport now can promote health, and provide a lasting legacy for the organization of healthy sporting events as the world recovers from the pandemic,” he added.

Qatar is the first country in the Middle East to host the FIFA World Cup.

“We are proud to be the first country in the Middle East to host the FIFA World Cup, but our goal is not only to hold a successful and distinguished sporting event,” he said. “We want to deliver a healthy and wonderful World Cup that leaves a legacy that supports the organization of healthy, sustainable, and safe mega-sporting events in the future,” he added.

The program entitled ‘Creating a Legacy for Sports and Health’ aims to support people to lead healthy lifestyles and promote health security with a focus on ensuring the safety of assemblies and mass events.