Mass events, disasters and public health

Brazil has hosted mass event (ME) and participants are exposed to health risks. The scope of this paper is to systematize the main relationships between ME and the occurrence of disasters of interest to Public Health. Three methodological strategies were used: systematic search and review of the literature on ME; systematization of the main information on ME; and selection and systematization of the references located for the theme of disaster in the search for key words, title or abstract. 28 references for ME were selected, mostly scientific papers, literature reviews, publications in 2012 and sports events. The main subjects addressed were surveillance systems and planning of ME. There was little analytical information about ME, as well as the importance of non-communicable events for the occurrence of disasters with emphasis on those related to crowds. It is important to consider the risk of disasters when planning ME to increase response time. Strategic areas such as medical emergencies, surveillance of communicable diseases and vectors, food and health service security, environmental health and laboratories should be considered. The importance of analytical research and registration of experience acquired in ME should be stressed for disaster risk reduction.