The World Health Assembly in resolution WHA60.26 “Workers’ health: a global action plan” called on Member States “to take action to ensure full coverage of all workers, including those engaged in informal small and medium-sized enterprises and agriculture, and migrant and contract workers, with basic occupational health interventions and basic services for the primary prevention of occupational diseases and injuries.
WHO’s proposed strategy for extending health coverage to all working people, including those working in small companies and in the informal sector, is to work with countries on the following strategic areas:
- Increasing the skills of primary care providers, general practitioners, nurses, environmental and public health technicians to provide basic occupational health services, such as counseling to improve working conditions, monitoring the health of workers, and identifying the most common occupational diseases among workers in small companies, rural areas, farms, the informal sector, and migrants.
- Increased coverage and quality of health services specialized in occupational health in large and medium-sized companies and industrial zones, focusing on health risk assessment and reduction; surveillance and improvement of the working environment; work organization; machinery and equipment; early detection of occupational diseases and rehabilitation; health promotion; and first aid provision in the workplace.
- Establishing a link between occupational health services and primary health care facilities to facilitate health care for workers suffering from chronic diseases and to facilitate their return to work after long-term sickness-related absences.
- Developing workplace health initiatives, tools, and practices that enable greater health care within companies and in other settings without excessive involvement of professional health services.
- Incorporating occupational health into undergraduate and professional development curricula, for all frontline services and for certain medical professionals dealing with cancer, skin, respiratory and neurological diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders.
- Developing national action plans to increase access to essential procedures and services for workers, to prevent and combat occupational diseases. This includes monitoring coverage and setting realistic targets in line with human and financial resources allocated to health care and consistent with local traditions.