Paris 2024: Making an impact by increasing children's physical activity at school
Bach reiterated the IOC's commitment to putting sport to good use through the Olympic Games. “We know that the health benefits of sport need to be brought to people where they are: at grassroots level, in every community. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will be a magnificent demonstration of this,” he said.
The IOC president was referring to a programme to introduce 30 minutes of physical activity every day in primary schools across France, which is expected to reach more than four million children.
“Paris 2024 is promoting sport and physical activity in more than 4,000 municipalities across France. These efforts to bring sport to the places where people gather will culminate in the Marathon Pour Tous, a mass-participation marathon, with more than 40,000 people running the same marathon course a few hours before the Olympians,” Bach highlighted.
“But Paris is just the most visible aspect of our mission to make the world a better place through sport. Through our partnership with WHO, we will reach every community around the world to bring sport to everyone.”
IOC and WHO: a strong partnership
The IOC and WHO have a long-standing partnership since 1984 that has led to numerous joint initiatives to combat physical inactivity through sport. In November 2022, as part of the cooperation agreement, the two organizations launched a three-year cooperation programme aimed at strengthening the role of sport in building healthy and active communities at international, regional and national levels.
“Our partnership has gone from strength to strength since then,” Bach said at the World Health Assembly, “and we continue to offer sport as a great, low-cost tool for high impact public health.”
The IOC President cited the Regional Sport and Health Cooperation Initiative, run by the IOC and WHO in collaboration with the international health non-governmental organisation PATH, as an example of how the two organisations are pioneering new ways of working together at grassroots level, bringing together the expertise of local health authorities and sports organisations.
“Our goal is to enable more than one million people to take part in sporting activities in their community,” Bach continued. “As part of this joint initiative, we are training coaches, teachers and local health workers from 500 organisations. We do this through innovative partnerships with National Olympic Committees, local health authorities and sports organisations at regional level.”
“That's why I urge you to replicate this collaborative model in your countries – work with your National Olympic Committees and local sports organisations to bring the low-cost, high-impact tools of sport into your health and education systems.”
About the World Health Assembly
The World Health Assembly is the decision-making body of the WHO. It is attended by delegations from all WHO Member States and focuses on specific health issues prepared by the WHO Executive Board. The 77th session of the annual World Health Assembly will be held in Geneva from 27 May to 1 June, and this year's theme is “Health for All, Health for All”.
You can watch the IOC President's full speech here.
