WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
ORGANISATION MONDIALE DE LA SANT.
REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC 'U~EAU UGIONAL DU PACIFIQUE OCCIDENTAL
REGIONAL COMMITTEE Twenty-second Session Manila 21-29 September 1971
WPR/RC22/4 Add.l 6 August 1971 ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
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Provisional agenda item 11 RESOLUTIONS OF REGIONAL INTEREST ADOPTED BY THE TWENTY-FOURTH WORLD HEALTH ASSEMBLY Occupational Health Programmes (resolution WHA24.30) 1.
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The Twenty-fourth World Health Assembly in its resolution adopted
on 18 May 1971 (resolution WHA24.30) , recommended that the regional committees undertake at their meetings in 1971 the means of developing analyses of the means by which occupational health services can be expanded in countries undergoing industrialization. The resolution is
2.
Although the process of industrialization has reached different
stages in the various countries in the Western Pacific Region there is a general effort to attain a rapid economic growth through the development
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of industries as well as through modernization and rationalization of agriculture. It is therefore timely for health administrations to undertake the establishment or the expansion of occupational health services. 3. Occupational health services can be defined as a branch of public Primarily, therefore, they are a social service for the However,
health devoted to the health promotion and protection of the gainfully employed. health and welfare of the productive sector of society.
occupational health services have also sizable effects of an economic nature as they are instrumental in improving individual productivity and in reducing to a minimum the losses caused by absenteeism or invalidity due to disease and accidents related to work.
/4.
On a country •••
WPR/RC22/4 Add.l page 2 4. On a country basis, such economic effects acquire important For
dimensions which are also - to a large extent - quantifiable. as an important contribution to economic advancement.
this reason, a programme of development in this area can be regarded
5. Stresses of work can be physical, mental or biological (or a combination' of all three. They may lead to occupational disease resulting from specific exposures, to aggravation of pre-existing ~llness
not
necessarily occupational, or to diseases of multiple etiology due to combined exposures within the total environment, including that of work places. Occupational health therefore is unavoidably concerned not only with specific occupational diseases, but also with the total health of the workers. 6. Furthermore, the complex nature of occupational health problems A well-developed In countries
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requires health services of a multi-disciplinary type.
system includes activities in preventive medicine, occupational hygiene engineering and sciences, nursing, psychology and sociology. where resources - both financial and in manpower - are limited and where basic health activities such as maternal and child health, communicable diseases control, environmental sanitation, etc., still require sizable inputs and the constant attention of health authorities, the expansion of occupational health programmes can take place only in phases over a reasonable period of time and following a list of priorities based on the local situation. Consideration should be given however to the fact that occupational health programmes at the local level provide a convenient means for effective execution of all preventive health services to the workers. Priorities should be selected in such a way as not only give~
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to secure in the first place that basic attention is
to outstanding
occupational health problems but - at the same time - to leave the process of phased development open to further steps. 7. Like any other process of development, the expansion of occupational However,
health programmes calls for capital investment and running costs which grow higher as activities expand and become more sophisticated. the possibility of quantifying the economic advantages of occupational /health opens •••
WPR/RC22/4 Add.l page 3 health opens some avenues for assistance and support to a well-designed programme which should not be ignored. Pre-investment assistance can provide a sizable contribution to the first phases of a programme as well as to occupational health institutional or educational establishments. National economic planning bodies and national development Insurance/ funding can. and should be. called upon for support.
compensation schemes can be shown the financial advantages of prevention over the complex of treatment/rehabilitation/compensation (besides human loss) and should contribute to the development of a preventive system.
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8.
The preparation of staff for occupational health should be planned In some countries,
to go hand-in-hand with the growth of the services. or is still too limited for the nation's needs.
training of these categories of personnel is either not firmly established Furthermore, the teaching of occupational health should be strengthened in the basic medical curricula since all practicing doctors in an industrial society should be aware of occupational risks and be conversant with their management and prevention. 9. step. For such an undertaking the faculty has to be prepared - as a first WHO is willing to continue and expand assistance in this field For countries which cannot afford a
through its fellowship programme.
national training programme in occupational health, or for the preparation of specialized categories of personnel, WHO could explore the possibility of sponsoring inter-country training schemes in co-operation with the
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more advanced countries in the Region • 10. Traditionally, occupational health services are a multi-departmental Very often administrative responsibilities are shared by two In either case,
activity.
or more departments, health and labour in particular.
however. the main responsibility and the technical leadership of a programme is clearly within the purview of the health administration. In addition, if the system is to function properly the participation of educational, clinical and research institutions, or social insurance/ compensation schemes is required, as well as the active contribution of management and labour. /11. Understandably, •••
WPR/RC22/4 Add.l page 4 11. ,Understandably, this complex requires a body of legislation. It
also requires thebui1dirtg up of an administrative structure by the departments concerned at all levels and in such a way that the resulting total establishment covers all the main phases of the programme harmoniously and without duplications orover1appings. The sharing of responsibilities entails also the need for co-ordination in the timing of development by all parties to avoid incomplete or unbalanced services as a result. 12. There is, however, an industrial sector for which the health This is the category of small-scale indus-
administration has almost complete responsibility under the circumstances obtaining in many countries.
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tries which - generally - cannot afford occupational health services of their own and in several countries are not covered adequately by occupational health legislation. Western Pacific Region. 13. In 1972, the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific These Small-scale industries represent a large part of the total industrial establishment in many countries of the
will hold a first series of national seminars on this subject. have the objective to discuss the problem and indicate solutions suitable to local circumstances.
The Organization is willing, subject
to government interest, to pursue this activity in future and to expand it into a wider programme of assistance. 14. Finally, a field which should not be disregarded from the very
onset of occupational health services is that of field research. Although in principle specific occupational hazards have a definite etiology and therefore clear preventive measures, their respective prevalence and importance are subject to a number of environmental , climatic, human and other factors which are subject to variations and therefore must be studied in depth for the proper orientation of the relevant preventive services. Their constant monitoring is also necessary to evaluate the services and, possibly, changes in the types or importance of risks.
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TWENTY-FOUR1lI WORLD HEAL1lI ASSEMBLY
WHA24.30 18 May 1971
OCCUPATIONAL REAL1lI PROGRAMMES
The Twenty-fourth World Health Assembly,
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Considering the growing importance of the need to introduce and promote occupational health services in the countries undergoing industrialization: Noting the great shortage in trained occupational health personnel, particularly in the countries undergoing industrialization; Noting the shortage of guiding criteria that can be used by health authorities in promoting occupational health services within the framework of public health programmes; Emphasizing the importance of co-ordination of all governmental departments concerned with occupational health at the national level and between the World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies including ILO in the field of occupational health, 1. RECOMMENDS that the regional committees undertake at their meetings in 1971 analyses of the means by which occupational health services can be expanded in countries undergoing industrialization, and 2. REQUESTS the Director-General to submit to the Twenty-fifth World Health Assembly a report containing measures that the World Health Organization might appropriately take in order to assist national health services in establishing and promoting occupational health programmes, including the acceleration of the training of their national personnel •
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Sixteenth plenary meeting, 18 May 1971 A24/VR/16