Making a legacy of sport for well being | Qatar World Cup 2022

With Qatar quickly to take the centre stage of world sports activities, the World Well being Group and the Qatar Ministry of Public Well being are driving efforts to assist make this yr’s celebration of soccer, the “world’s recreation”, a beacon for well being and security, and a launchpad for sharing classes with main sporting occasions sooner or later.

Set to be held in Doha from November 20 to December 18, the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar is a singular platform for us to advertise well being internationally and to speak that sport and well being go collectively. They’re intertwined and, collectively, they play out in a celebration of pleasure, wellbeing, and solidarity for billions of individuals world wide.

Our partnership in Sport For Well being has two major targets: first, to work with key companions to assist make the 2022 FIFA World Cup – the primary to be held within the Center East – wholesome and protected; and second, to seize and share classes realized with our companions and organisers of different massive sporting occasions.

The partnership, which is supported by FIFA and Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Supply and Legacy as a part of a drive to advertise well being globally via soccer, started final October. Since then, we’ve got labored in shut collaboration to advertise bodily well being and wellbeing in a number of methods. These embody selling well being and dietary consciousness throughout the Holy Month of Ramadan, partaking within the third version of the “Stroll the Discuss: Well being For All Problem” initiative in Geneva, and elevating consciousness of the harms brought on by smoking on World No Tobacco Day.

By specializing in bodily exercise, wholesome diets and diet, tobacco management, psychological well being, and well being safety, we’re working to offer steering on methods to assist enhance the bodily and psychological well being of all individuals globally via sports activities.

Our objectives are formidable, and primarily based on three key pillars: First, selling well being via strategic collaboration with governments and sporting organisations, reaching billions of individuals via soccer and different sports activities; second, making main sporting occasions protected for followers, gamers and workers; and third, sharing data with the general public to assist them make wholesome way of life decisions.

The partnership is leveraging this yr’s FIFA World Cup to advertise the well being advantages of bodily exercise for all via sport by growing new instruments to achieve individuals of all ages, notably youth. As companions, we’ve got been busy growing science-based steering via technical engagement to speak the significance of bodily exercise.

One of many key findings is that good psychological well being can usually be linked to common bodily exercise, which incorporates sports activities or, merely strolling and taking part in bodily actions with others. This could additionally assist to advertise a way of inclusion and group.

Whether or not you’re concerned with high-intensity exercises and even simply gardening, each effort counts in the direction of a wholesome physique and thoughts. To additional promote wholesome lives, we’re underscoring the significance of diet by demonstrating the advantages of providing wholesome meals decisions at massive sporting occasions.

In the identical vein, on the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, smoke-free stadiums and bans on tobacco advertising and marketing will assist to guard individuals from this lethal product. The advantages of those measures will assist promote and shield the well being of sports activities followers at future massive sporting occasions.

Lastly, preserving sporting occasions protected via a dedication to well being safety is a elementary pillar of the venture.

From making certain the implementation of mass gathering protocols inside and outside stadiums, to adhering to regulate measures to guard individuals from infectious illness outbreaks, we’re dedicated to working with companions to make sure all obligatory steps are taken to make sporting occasions, such because the FIFA World Cup, protected and safe.

As everyone knows, teamwork is crucial for fulfillment in sports activities. The identical is true for safeguarding and selling well being. We’re dedicated to repeatedly to try collectively, for this yr’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar, and past to leverage the worldwide energy of sport to assist individuals lead the healthiest lives doable.

The views expressed on this article are the authors’ personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.