RIYADH: The Ministry of Health (MoH) launched a nine-day training program on crowd medicine and risk management during the Haj and Umrah pilgrimages, in Makkah on Wednesday.

The program has been organized in coordination with the ministry’s International Center for Crowd Medicine Agency to train health officials in dealing with crowds during emergencies.

International experts in medicine and crowd management from Flinders University in Australia, University of Dundee, University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the World Health Organization (WHO) also participated.

According to an MoH official, the program is aimed at enhancing the effectiveness of health measures during the pilgrimages in the Makkah and Madinah.

In 2010, the Kingdom organized the first conference on the impact of mass-gatherings on public health in Jeddah. It was attended by more than 500 experts and 30 speakers and specialists from all over the world.

It was decided to establish a Kingdom-based international referential entity specialized in mass-gathering medicine (International Center for Crowd Medicine Agency). Such an entity is to be tasked with the classification and definition of the concepts, tasks and activities of mass health.

The most tangible outcome of the conference were the strategies and benefits for upgrading mass gathering medicine worldwide, emphasizing the need to establish an international reference authority, preferably based in the Kingdom.