This topic focuses on the most essential activities for workers’ health performed by primary and community health care. It includes so called Basic Occupational Health Services, the essential care on occupational safety and health for the 85 % of all workers in the world who have no access to care provided by so called specialized Occupational Health Services. Often the term Basic Occupational Health Services is used for systematic activities performed by primary of community health care professionals or centers. Such systematic activities are in development in countries as Thailand, Iran, Indonesia, South Africa, India and Brazil. In other countries Public Health organizations are performing a variety of activities in this field such as for migrant workers in USA. In many European countries primary health care professionals such an family physicians, and not to forget many clinicians are increasingly active for workers’ health such as in UK, Italy and the Netherlands. New BOHS forms are tested successfully such as small specialized occupational health clinics with reach out activities in high risk precarious working areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. In India and Malaysia a series of workshops were given for health care professionals to develop knowledge and basic skills in workplace hazard identification, assessment and control.
The LDOH foundation supports the development of various basic occupational health services and more broadly the efforts of primary and community health care, and clinicians, by co-organizing symposiums and sessions on this topic such as in international ICOH and WONCA congresses and meetings. We are also building a free accessible database with (descriptions of) publications on this topic, in close collaboration with the Indian Association of Occupational Health.
