RESUMEN
BACKGROUND: The Comparative Risk Assessment (CRA) project of the World Health Organization (WHO) assessed worldwide mortality and morbidity in the year 2000 resulting from exposures to selected occupational hazards. This article summarizes findings of the WHO CRA project, presents the estimates of the International Labor Organization (ILO) for total deaths due to workplace risks, and calls for action. OBJECTIVES: Global burden estimates and counts of deaths assist ministers and other decision and policy makers to make informed decisions and to take action regarding risk reduction. METHODS: The WHO CRA methodology combined the proportions of the population exposed to five occupational hazards (excluding numerous risks due to inadequate global data) with relative risk measures to estimate attributable fractions of the selected health outcomes for both morbidity and mortality. ILO estimates of total numbers of global work-related injury deaths apply national fatality rates to employment data for the particular country; for disease deaths ILO uses an attributable risk approach. RESULTS: In 2000, the selected occupational risk factors were responsible worldwide for 37% of back pain, 16% of hearing loss, 13% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), 11% of asthma, 8% of injuries, 9% of lung cancer and 2% of leukemia, and about 100% of pneumoconioses and mesothelioma. These selected risks at work resulted in the loss of about 24 million years of healthy life and caused 850,000 deaths worldwide, about 40% of the ILO estimate of 2.2 million total deaths. CONCLUSIONS: These global and regional analyses have identified areas where specific preventive actions are required.
Asunto(s)
Salud Global , Enfermedades Profesionales/epidemiología , Riesgo , Accidentes de Trabajo/mortalidad , Asma/epidemiología , Asma/etiología , Dolor de Espalda/epidemiología , Dolor de Espalda/etiología , Enfermedad Crónica , Recolección de Datos , Infecciones por VIH/epidemiología , Infecciones por VIH/transmisión , Pérdida Auditiva/epidemiología , Pérdida Auditiva/etiología , Hepatitis Viral Humana/epidemiología , Hepatitis Viral Humana/transmisión , Humanos , Transmisión de Enfermedad Infecciosa de Paciente a Profesional/estadística & datos numéricos , Esperanza de Vida , Neoplasias/epidemiología , Neoplasias/etiología , Enfermedades Profesionales/mortalidad , Enfermedades Profesionales/prevención & control , Salud Laboral , Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica/epidemiología , Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica/etiología , Medición de Riesgo , Factores de Riesgo , Organización Mundial de la Salud , Heridas y Lesiones/epidemiología , Heridas y Lesiones/etiologíaRESUMEN
Within the ongoing strategy of the Workers' Health program at the Pan American Health Organization on strengthening surveillance in the field of workers' health in the Americas (the Region), a project was conducted in July 1999 in Washington, D.C. The objectives of the project were to discuss the problems found in the surveillance of workers' health, to develop a methodology and use it to prioritize and select the top three occupational sentinel health events for incorporation into the surveillance systems in the Region, and to develop the initial protocols for establishing the surveillance systems for the three chosen occupational sentinel health events. The Pan American Health Organization invited 24 occupational health experts from the Region to participate in the project. Over an intensive 3-day period, the experts heard reports of workplace surveillance activities in the various countries in the Region; developed prioritization methods; identified and prioritized a list of occupational sentinel health events; and developed three surveillance protocols, one each for occupational fatal injuries, pesticide poisoning, and low back pain. The results on the prioritization of occupational sentinel health events and the development of surveillance protocols are reported in this article.
Asunto(s)
Prioridades en Salud , Salud Laboral , Vigilancia de Guardia , América Central , Humanos , América del Norte , Exposición Profesional , América del Sur , Lugar de TrabajoRESUMEN
An objective of the Workers' Health Program at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is to strengthen surveillance in workers' health in the Region of the Americas in order to implement prevention and control strategies. To date, four phases of projects have been organized to develop multinational workplace health and hazard surveillance in the Region. Phase 1 was a workshop held in 1999 in Washington, D.C., for the purpose of developing a methodology for identifying and prioritizing the top three occupational sentinel health events to be incorporated into the surveillance systems in the Region. Three surveillance protocols were developed, one each for fatal occupational injuries, pesticide poisoning, and low back pain, which were identified in the workshop as the most important occupational health problems. Phase 2 comprised projects to disseminate the findings and recommendations of the Washington Workshop, including publications, pilot projects, software development, electronic communication, and meetings. Phase 3 was a sub-regional meeting in 2000 in Rosario, Argentina, to follow up on the progress in carrying out the recommendations of the Washington workshop and to create a Virtual Regional Center for Latin America that could coordinate the efforts of member countries. Currently phase 4 includes a number of projects to achieve the objectives of this Center, such as pilot projects, capacity building, editing a compact disk, analyzing legal systems and intervention strategies, software training, and developing an internet course on surveillance. By documenting the joint efforts made to initiate and develop Regional multinational surveillance of occupational injuries and diseases in the Americas, this paper aims to provide experience and guidance for others wishing to initiate and develop regional multinational surveillance for other diseases or in other regions.