Human Rights and Health: Opportunities to Advance Rural Occupational Health

• Published in: Journal of Rural Medicine Vol. 5; no. 1; pp. 41 - 54
• Main Author: Leslie London
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Japanese
• Published: The Japanese Association of Rural Medicine 01-06-2010
• ISSN: 1880-487X

The burden of disease from occupational injuries and illness remain a major global challenge, particularly in developing countries. Estimate of work related burden of disease suggest that there are over 300 000 fatal occupational accidents and close to 2 million fatal work-related diseases annually (Hamalainen et al, 2009). Not only are there large inequalities in the distribution of work-related morbidity and mortality across countries, but there is also a serious lack of access to preventive and curative services for work-related health problems. Estimates of the percentage of workers globally with access to occupational health services range from 10 to 20% (Rantanan 2005; Muchiri 2005) and Ladou (2003) has estimated that only 10% of developing country populations are covered by occupational health and safety laws (Ladou, 2003). A report on occupational health in Southern Africa in the period 2004 to 2008 found that even with the overall availability of occupational health professionals well below ILO norms, between-country differences in the availability of doctors and nurses trained in occupational health was of the order of 50- to 100-fold (Work and Health in Southern Africa, 2008).