Meeting of Technical Support Group 10 February 2009 Using Mass Events to Promote Health Literacy: Lessons from the Beijing Olympics Hans Troedsson WHO Representative, China 29 April 2009

Outline Mass Events and Public Health Examples from the Beijing Olympics –General Health Information –Tobacco – Food Safety

Mass Events Characteristics –Large attendance –Duration –Security concerns Public Health Goal at Mass Events –Preventing or minimizing the risk of injuries or ill health for participants, spectators and the resident population

Health is not only the opposite of being ill Large audience with large media coverage over a few weeks Spirit of the mass event Future Legacy Opportunity to have a significant public health impact beyond the duration of the mass event Why use mass events to promote health?

Beijing Health Bureau Olympic Health Handbooks

Tobacco Beijing City Regulations BOCOG initiatives at venues Bans on advertising Media and community education Legacy: Legal framework for increasing smoke free areas and increased awareness Beijing City Regulations BOCOG initiatives at venues Bans on advertising Media and community education Legacy: Legal framework for increasing smoke free areas and increased awareness

Transportation Sector Poster on dangers of Second Hand Smoke at a Beijing bus stop, August Public Service Announcements were shown on buses, in subways, and in airports. Taxis in Beijing became smoke-free.

Sports and Culture: No smoking messaging Workers Stadium Olympic venue, August, 2008

Telecommunications: Water cube Olympic venue has local area Smoke-Free SMS text messaging to mobile phones [ ]

Food Safety for Travellers

Physical Activity, Diet & Food Safety

Other health-related initiatives 100,000 education kit distributed in the Olympic venues by BOCOG UNAIDS The training for the volunteers conducted by UN agencies and national counterparts

The Lesson from Beijing Mass events can be used to Strengthen systems for public health surveillance and emergency response Improve environmental conditions Increase in smoke free public places and reduced tobacco use Heighten awareness of health benefits of increasing physical activity Improve food safety and knowledge of nutrition

Thank you