5b - Enhancing Public Health Surveillance at FIFA 2022 Qatar: A Collaborative Event Based Surveillance approach
Fireside Abstracts
Information
Background : The World Health Organization (WHO) endorsed the Epidemic Intelligence from Open Sources (EIOS) initiative to enhance public health surveillance during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Collaborations with Qatar Ministry of Health, and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) aimed to monitor health threats potentially affecting the tournament. The objective was to assess collaborative efforts between WHO and partners in enhancing public health surveillance in mass gatherings using public health intelligence tools.
Methods : Methods: A EIOS dashboard was created to screen articles from Qatar and the neighboring countries. The dashboard used open-source databases specific keywords related to the WORLD CUP 2022 (WC22) EIOS surveillance initiative. Screening included weekends and public holidays, focusing on detecting public health related signals.
Results : Results: From November 6 to December 31, 2022, 51,836 articles across 1,037 pages were screened. 12 national-level signals were identified from 105 flagged articles, with three significant incidents at the national and EMRO levels. The process verified 75% of these signals, enhancing the tournament's public health response.
Conclusions : The EIOS initiative effectively identified public health threats during the FIFA World Cup, enhancing the collaborative efforts between WHO and partners within the mass gathering surveillance practice. The integration of artificial intelligence is recommended to streamline future processes, improve consistency, and reduce human effort and errors.
