The Lancet: Lessons learned from the management of Euro 2012 could help build health legacies for future sporting events

In this Review, Dr Catherine Smallwood and Dr Maurizio Barbeschi of WHO, Geneva, Switzerland and colleagues outline the ways in which organisers of future sporting mass gatherings can, and should, learn from the management of the safety and wellbeing of more than eight million people at the Euro 2012 Football Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

According to Dr Smallwood and Dr Maurizio Barbeschi, "Organisers of mass gatherings should make every effort to share their experiences—through the WHO Network of Collaborating Centres on Mass Gatherings, the International Observer Program and other means—so that organisers of future mass gatherings can plan as best as possible. More work needs to be done to document the legacy of mass gatherings, and frameworks should be developed to include health legacy in the planning of these events."*

NOTES TO EDITORS:

*Quote direct from authors and cannot be found in text of paper.