1. PARALLEL WORKING SESSIONS
ROUND TABLE 4: HEALTH IN OTHER POLICIES
Objectives:
To identify policy options and actions to enhance the consideration of workers' health
in other (non-health) policies and to design national occupational health and safety
programmes in the context of integrated primary health care.
Suggested questions:
How intersectoral collaboration for workers' health can be strengthened?
How national profiles and action plans on workers' health should be designed,
implemented and evaluated so that they link to primary care?
What is the role of strategic health impact assessment to address risks and benefits
from workers' health arising from public and private policies in other sectors?
What actions should be undertaken to enhance the consideration of workers' health in
other (non-health) policies at the local, national and international level, including
research to fill knowledge gaps?
1
2. How intersectoral collaboration for workers'
health can be strengthened? 1
• Implement a proper stakeholder analysis for
each issue
• Determine levels of interest of most important
stakeholders, preferably at the local level
• Think global, act local
• Inclusion of informal sector creates leverage
• Professional education and culture, e.g.
medical training
3. How intersectoral collaboration for workers'
health can be strengthened? 2
• Make (non-health) advantages visible to
various stakeholders
• Create common ground, do not emphasize
only health interest
• Widen scope of formal government
inspections and quality indicators
• Use existing legal mechanisms, eg ILO
conventions, as overall framework
4. How national profiles and action plans on workers'
health should be designed, implemented and
evaluated so that they link to primary care?
• National profiles and action plans should create
conducive atmosphere for local solutions
• Solve problem of lack of data on environmental
risks, especially on informal sector
• Link to individual worker with simple tools, eg
self-assessments
• Make benefits clear for primary health care
sector
• Design combined training programmes
5. What is the benefit of strategic health impact
assessment to address risks and benefits from
workers' health arising from public and private policies
in other sectors?
• Awareness
• Capitalisation of benefits and risks
• Create common ground for dialogue between
different actors
• Involve local organisations and users as much
as possible
• Enable healthy public policies
6. What actions should be undertaken to include workers'
health in other (non-health) policies at the local,
national and international level, including research to
fill knowledge gaps?
• Proper health impact assessments
• Involvement of workers and their communities
• Bottom-up approach with all stakeholders
• Identify knowledge gaps and funding of research
• Training and education of occupational health
risks and benefits, including in general education
and medical training