Health at the football World Cup

From heat exhaustion to dengue fever - monitoring public health risks at the biggest tournament in football history.

With millions of fans travelling to the USA, Canada and Mexico for the men’s football World Cup, Claudia Hammond speaks to Professor Rebecca Katz from Georgetown University in Washington DC who is the Director of the newly set up Health Security Operations Center, a surveillance hub to track threats to health, monitoring the risk of diseases such as measles, dengue and chikungunya.

With the World Cup coinciding with rainy season in Mexico, which also means mosquito season, our reporter Rogelio Navarro in Guadalajara brings us the latest on efforts in Jalisco state to prevent outbreaks of dengue which is transmitted by mosquitoes.

And the potential for health issues due to extreme heat has caused concerns amongst players, spectators and scientists. At the men’s FIFA Club World Cup in the USA last year Chelsea and Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez spoke out about the difficulties of playing in high temperatures. We hear from Norwegian international midfielder Morten Thorsby and Douglas Casa, CEO of the Korey Stringer Institute and Professor of Kinesiology at the University of Connecticut, who have written to tournament organisers, FIFA, calling for stronger heat protection measures for players and spectators.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond

Producer: Jonathan Blackwell

Image: Aziz Behich and Mathew Leckie of Australia drink water during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Group D match between Australia and Denmark at Al Janoub Stadium on November 30, 2022 in Al Wakrah, Qatar