To describe the process adopted to identify, classify, and evaluate legacy of health care planning in the host city of Porto Alegre for the Football World Cup 2014.

There is an emerging interest in the need to demonstrate a sustainable health legacy from mass gatherings investments. Leaving a public health legacy for future host cities and countries is now an important part of planning for these events.

The Ministry of Sports initiated and coordinated the development of projects in the host cities to identify actions, projects, and constructions to be developed to prepare for the World Cup. In Porto Alegre, a common structure was developed by the coordinating team to instruct legacy identification, classification, and evaluation. This structure was based on international documentary analysis (including official reports, policy documents, and web-based resources) and direct communication with recognized experts in the field.

Sixteen total legacies were identified for health surveillance (5) and health services (11). They were classified according to the strategic area, organizations involved, dimension, typology, planned or unplanned, tangible or intangible, territorial coverage, and situation prior to the World Cup. Possible impacts were then assessed as positive, negative, and potentiating, and mitigating actions were indicated.

The project allowed the identification, classification, and development of health legacy, including risk analysis, surveillance, mitigation measures, and provision of emergency medical care. Although the project intended the development of indicators to measure the identified legacies, evaluation was not possible at the time of publication due to time.

WittRR , KotlharMK , MesquitaMO , LimaMADS , MarinSM , DayCB , BandeiraAG , HuttonA . Developing Legacy: Health Planning in the Host City of Porto Alegre for the 2014 Football World Cup. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015;30(6):613–617.

Regardless of the capacity of the health care system of the host nation, mass gatherings require special planning and preparedness efforts within the health system. Brazil will host the 2014 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. This paper represents the first results from Project “Prepara Brasil,” which is investigating the preparedness of the health sector and pharmaceutical services for these events.

This study was designed to identify the efforts engaged in to prepare the health sector in Brazil for the FIFA World Cup 2014 event, as well as the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Key informant interviews were conducted with representatives of both the municipality and hospital sectors in each of the 12 host cities where matches will be played. A semi-structured key informant interview guide was developed, with sections for each type of participant. One of each municipality's reference hospitals was identified and seven additional general hospitals were randomly selected from all of the inpatient facilities in each municipality. The interviewers were instructed to contact a reference hospital, and two of the other hospitals, in the jurisdiction for participation in the study. Questions were asked about plans for mass-gathering events, the interaction between hospitals and government officials in preparation for the World Cup, and their perceptions of their surge capacity to meet the potential demands generated by the presence of the World Cup events in their municipalities.

In all, 11 representatives of the sampled reference hospitals, and 24 representatives of other general private and public hospitals in the municipalities, were interviewed. Most of the hospitals had some interaction with government officials in preparation for the World Cup 2014. Approximately one-third (34%) received training activities from the government. Fifty-four percent (54%) of hospitals had no specific plans for communicating with the government or other agencies during the World Cup. Approximately half (51%) had plans for surge capacity during the event, but only 27% had any surge capacity for isolation of potentially infectious patients.

Overall, although there has been mention of a great deal of planning on the part of the government officials for the World Cup 2014, hospital surge to meet the potential increase in demand still falls short.

ShoafK , Osorio de CastroCGS , MirandaES . Hospital Preparedness in Advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2014;29(4):1-4.

Past history of mass casualties related to international football games brought the importance of practical planning, preparedness, simulation training, and analysis of potential patient presentations to the forefront of emergency research.

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare established the Health Research Team (HRT-MHLW) for the 2002 FIFA World Cup game (FIFAWC). The HRT-MHLW collected patient data related to the games and analyzed the related factors regarding patient presentations.

A total of 1,661 patients presented for evaluation and care from all 32 games in Japan. The patient presentation rate per 1,000 spectators per game was 1.21 and the transport-to-hospital rate was 0.05. The step-wise regression analysis identified that the patient presentations rate increased where access was difficult. As the number of total spectators increased, the patient presentation rate decreased. (p <0.0001, r = 0.823, r2 = 0.677).

In order to develop mass-gathering medical-care plans in accordance with the types and sizes of mass gatherings, it is necessary to collect data and examine risk factors for patient presentations for a variety of events.