Legacy in Global Health Security: Insights from the 5th International Conference for Mass Gatherings Medicine

Global health security (GHS) is a comprehensive approach, including preparedness, collaboration, and resilience, to ensure the safeguarding and well-being of the global population. Mass gatherings (MGs), such as international gatherings and religious pilgrimages, may act as potential hotspots potential hotspots for disease transmission and catastrophic accidents that threaten the GHS. Thus, health security at MGs necessitates robust planning, surveillance, and communication and extends across various pivotal areas such as infectious disease surveillance and response, crowd management, disaster preparedness and response, health education and promotion. This has been particularly amplified by lessons learned from previous MGs, which contributed to strengthening GHS and protecting the broader health of our interconnected world. As WHO DG stated, “no one is safe until we are all safe”. The legacy opportunity inherent in MGs is a transformative concept emphasising the enduring benefits of integrating GHS strategies with mass event planning. The legacy of effective MG health measures is vital to our GHS framework, as it improves heath systems of host countries which in turn strengthen GHS...