London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

This summer, an estimated 10,000 athletes and millions of visitors from all over the world will gather in London for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Such mass gatherings present special challenges for public health that need to be prepared for and managed.

Some of the world’s leading experts in the health and medical issues around global mass gatherings and major sporting events gathered at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to explore relevant issues and engage in a public panel discussion.

Participants included senior representatives of the UK Health Protection Agency, London 2012, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the Saudi Ministry of Health.

The discussion, jointly organised by Chatham House, the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London and LSHTM, examined progress over the past decade in health policies concerning mass gatherings, the development of the medical sub-speciality of Mass Gatherings Medicine, and how international collaboration can increase resilience in future.

Dr Brian McCloskey, London Regional Director and Olympics lead at the Health Protection Agency, UK, said: “In the lead up to the London Olympics we have liaised with public health experts from all over the world, to learn from their experiences with mass gatherings - including previous Olympic Games - in order to provide the best possible protection to the public and Games participants from threats to their health.

“Our risk assessments indicate that there is only a slight increased risk of infectious disease during the Olympics, such as diarrhoea and vomiting, and the reality is that serious outbreaks are relatively rare. Nevertheless we have worked with public health experts from across the globe to put in place world class systems to monitor and respond rapidly to any outbreaks of infectious diseases or environmental hazards. This builds on existing tested, high quality capacity within the UK public health system.”

Professor David L. Heymann, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at LSHTM and  Head and Senior Research Fellow at the Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House, said: “Global mass gatherings such at London 2012 present specific challenges, and it is important that the public health risks are recognised and understood.  Prevention is both a collective and a personal issue – collective by ensuring that water, sanitation and food are safe, and individual in knowing how to protect against infectious diseases that may be transported by persons who attend or participate in the games.

“Lessons from the Hajj, the world’s largest annual mass gathering, will be shared and have much to teach us about how best to prepare and respond. This is a global issue and it is vital that we collaborate on a global scale to minimise the risks to public health that mass gatherings can pose.”

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