FIFA and WHO #ACTogether to fight COVID-19

Star footballers, competitive team captains will promote equal global access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics

Monday, February 1, 2021, Geneva: FIFA is teaming up with the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote the need for fair access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostics COVID-19 and encourage people to continue to practice daily public health life-saving prevention measures coronavirus spread and health protection.

Together with the FIFA 2020 World Cup, which takes place in Qatar from 4 to 11 February 2021, FIFA and WHO are launching a public awareness campaign involving football stars, via TV and messages in the stadium, to further promotion Accelerator access COVID-19 Tools (ACT) an initiative launched in April 2020, and invites people to practice wearing masks, physical distancing and hand hygiene.

“We all need to play our part in the fight against coronavirus. We also call on the international community to #ACTogether ensure a level playing field in access to vaccines, treatments and diagnostic tests around the world, ”FIFA President Gianni Infantino said during a video conference ahead of the FIFA World Cup at the club.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, thanked FIFA and the players for helping to raise awareness of life-saving interventions that all people can follow and for the importance of enhanced global support for ACT accelerator strengthen the development and equitable allocation of vaccines, treatments and tests to reduce serious diseases and deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Justice is the foundation of football and all other sports, and it must also be the same when it comes to health,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The rules of the COVID-19 challenge are simple: all people at risk of coronavirus in all countries must have equal access to life-saving vaccines, treatment and diagnostics. In just nine months, the world has established these three powerful defensive lines against COVID-19. But our goal now is to ensure fair access and continuous improvement of these tools. “

Dr. Tedros added: “Who is grateful to FIFA for partnering with health partners around the world to promote the need for a fair distribution of the tools needed to win against coronavirus.”

The new collaboration between FIFA and WHO will reinforce the saving messages to the global audience with a series of promotional videos that will be broadcast during the FIFA World Cup at the club. In the videos, the competitive club captains repeat the key steps everyone needs to follow to fight and defeat the coronavirus by focusing on the arms, elbow, face, distance, symptoms, masks and window opening.

“It is important not to forget that health comes first,” the FIFA president said. “Only by following the advice of our medical experts will we be able to remove the threat posed by COVID-19 and I urge everyone to follow these steps in their daily lives. This advice not only protects you, but also protects your loved ones and those around you. Giving these messages during the FIFA Club World Cup, I appreciate the support provided by the participating teams and their players, coaching staff and other officials in following the protocols that need to be followed to play this tournament, and ensure that my football flame flashes brightly. in these challenging times. “

The video awareness campaign will feature players and head coaches from the competition teams at the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2020, along with FIFA legends, and will be broadcast on various FIFA, WHO and club digital channels. with the support of broadcasters around the world.

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Editor’s notes:

WHO and FIFA have signed a four-year collaboration in 2019 on the global promotion of healthy lifestyles through football. More information on the WHO-FIFA Memorandum of Understanding here. The two organizations jointly launched “Send a message to get rid of the coronavirus”In March 2020 to share advice on effective measures to protect people from COVID-19. This was followed #Be active a campaign in April 2020 to encourage people to stay healthy at home during a pandemic. After that, globally #SafeHome The campaign was launched in May 2020 to support women and children at risk of domestic violence, and was accompanied by additional messages in August and November 2020. Update hyperlinks by language (or remove link if data is not available in that language)

In April 2020, the WHO and partners launched Accelerator access COVID-19 (ACT) an initiative to support what has become the world’s fastest, most coordinated and most successful effort to develop disease control tools. Its goal is to end the pandemic as quickly as possible by reducing mortality from COVID-19 and serious disease by accelerating development, equitable allocation, and expanded delivery of vaccines, therapy, and diagnostics to reduce mortality and serious disease. The gap in ACT accelerator funding for 2021 is $ 26 billion, which is a small fraction projected a global economic cost of up to $ 9.2 trillion if governments do not provide developing economies with equal access to COVID-19 vaccines. Update hyperlinks by language (or remove link if data is not available in that language)