oa Qatar Health 2020: A global conference setting the tone to host one of the most popular sporting competitions in the world

Welcome to this special issue of the Journal of Emergency Medicine, Trauma and Acute Care (JEMTAC) dedicated primarily to Qatar Health 2020 Conference and presenting a selection of abstracts on various topics in response to a late call for free paper oral or poster presentation submissions (Table 1). Qatar Health 2020 was a collaborative event between Hamad Medical Corporation and the Qatar Ministry of Public Health, chaired by Dr. Abdul Wahab Al Musleh and organized as a multidisciplinary academic meeting open to healthcare professionals and experts from different backgrounds and countries. The theme of the congress was “Mass gatherings Healthcare Services: Emergency and Disaster Management” in preparation for the FIFA World Cup 2022 and also concentrates on presenting best practices and evidence of a trauma system approach to mass casualty events.

Hosting one of the most popular sporting events in the world is a significant undertaking that requires a lot of preparation at a national level to ensure the well-being of athletes, supporters, and various professional groups and volunteers supporting such activity, whilst also still providing the required services to the rest of the population. Mass gathering medicine is defined as “the public health challenges to hosting events attended by a large enough number of people, at a specific site, for a defined period of time, likely to strain both the planning and response to the mass gathering of a community, state, or nation.”¹ Whether it is in relation to the potential spread of infectious diseases, terrorist attacks, or accidents, medical preparedness and emergency response are key^2,3. The range of submissions received for Qatar Health 2020 in connection with the known and potential impact of mass gatherings in terms of healthcare response is a testimony of the importance of good preparation which involves a significant ramp up in healthcare manpower and physical resources, public health campaigns, interagency collaboration, considerations for the environmental and cultural context, and exercises to test and rehearse plans (Table 2).

This special issue also includes two abstracts from the first Qatar Trauma Nurse Symposium which took place at the end of 2019 and was jointly organized by the Trauma Nursing Department and the Nursing and Midwifery Education and Research Department of Hamad Medical Corporation under the leadership of Ms. Asmaa Mosa Al-Atey.

Finally, we would like to close this editorial by wishing success to the resurging JEMTAC journal and congratulating all participants that made Qatar Health 2020 Conference and the Qatar Trauma Nurse Symposium such successful events. We look forward to featuring the work presented at future events held in Qatar as well as full articles directly submitted to the journal for Open Access publication. The Editorial Board will endeavor within the next couple of years to make it a regular publication with good quality and informative contents for everyone interested in emergency medicine, trauma, acute and pre-hospital care.