IOC and WHO reaffirm collaboration to promote equity in vaccines

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) They reaffirmed their collaboration to promote equity in vaccines and healthy lifestyles, as well as in other projects for future Olympic Games, starting in Paris 2024.

The IOC reported this Sunday on the meeting held in Beijing by its president, Thomas Bach, and the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in which the former supported the idea that “a path has been opened with a safe vaccine and effective that can help save precious lives” in the face of the pandemic.

“Let us join hands to give free and equal access to the vaccine for everyone in the world, to commit our collective responsibility to protect the most vulnerable, because everyone on this planet has the right to live a healthy life. Together we are stronger when we are supportive and take care of each other”. she pointed out.

Bach’s words join those expressed by the director general of the WHO on the opening day of Beijing 2022, who indicated that these “are hope, solidarity, unity and peace” and “especially the hope of ending with this pandemic.”

“I hope that we will reach 70% vaccination in each and every country in the world by the middle of this year, and I hope that the acute phase of the pandemic is over, so that people come together as always,” he said.

The IOC and the WHO formalized their collaboration to promote public health with a Memorandum of Understanding in 1984 and in 2020 they signed a new cooperation agreement, which also joined United Nations (UN) activities against the pandemic with the help of the athletes.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has shown how crucial sport and physical activity are for physical and mental health. The IOC has regularly called on world governments to include sport in their post-crisis support programmes, due to the important role of sport in the prevention and recovery phases.

At today’s meeting the IOC and WHO also discussed closer collaboration on sport for health from Paris 2024, to address emerging issues such as the prevalence of non-communicable diseases, which are often closely linked to unhealthy lifestyles and lack of physical activity.

The WHO estimates that noncommunicable diseases kill 41 million people a year and are responsible for 71% of all deaths in the world.