Report of ICOH Task Group on Co-operation with WHO

Bengt Knave, Tee Guidotti and Richard Ennals

During 2000 and the spring of 2001, ICOH has had different collaboration and co-ordination activities with WHO:

1. Providing technical assistance to WHO and ILO Global Programme for the Elimination of Silicosis, specifically in providing technical material on prevalence study design for a study in Lebanon.

2. Planning a course for occupational health nurses in South Africa (a project under the Department of Health in South Africa, currently running).

3. Providing authors for production of three chapters of a WHO-sponsored textbook "Basic Occupational Health", courtesy of several ICOH Scientific Committees, and input from individual members.

4. Meetings with WHO-AFRO on "Occupational Health in the Informal Sector" in Sub-Saharan Africa, and with SADC Health Section, developing occupational health strategy for the region.

5. Collaborating in the Tobacco-Free Workplaces initiative (see Task Group report).

6. Participating in the WHO NGO-meeting (see report from Peter Westerholm). The report signals concern about the WHO future strategies as they were presented at that meeting. There was no mention of occupational health matters as part of the strategy. Several ICOH Board members have reacted and urged ICOH officers to take action.

During the autumn of 2001 the following activities will be in progress:

1. Collaboration with the Department of Health in South Africa and WHO Occupational Health Unit to evaluate plans for launching a collaborating centre in South Africa aimed at the prevention of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa. The ICOH initiative was proposed by ICOH Board member - Murray Coombs, and preliminary contacts have been made with concerned persons in South Africa and WHO.

2. ICOH will be represented at the regional WHO meetings in September for Asia, the Americas and Europe.

3. ICOH will be represented at the WHO Collaborating Centres meeting in Thailand in November. In this meeting and the preceding regional meetings ICOH's concern regarding WHO strategies, as set out above, will be presented.