Increasing the contribution of sport to promote and maintain a healthy population is a key goal for governments and health systems around the world. Regular physical activity has a positive impact on health and well-being, and has been shown to reduce the risk of noncommunicable diseases and chronic health conditions, and improve our mental health. Sport is a popular way to be active and increasing opportunities for participation in community-based and grass roots sports for people of all ages and abilities is a priority agenda of WHO Global Action Plan on Physical Activity 2018–2030.

Under the auspices of the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) WHO, the Qatar Ministry of Public Health and Generation Amazing are hosting a Sport for Health Conference, including the 4th scientific meeting of Football is Medicine, in Doha, Qatar, from 4–6 October 2022.

The conference aims to strengthen global networks, and translate science into policy and practice around the use of football and sport for health. International and local experts, researchers, practitioners and policy makers will review existing evidence on the efficacy and impact of sport for health programmes and identify future pathways to more effective implementation.