Less economically developed countries need help to create healthy workplaces

Globally, three billion working people have daily occupational health needs that can only be met by providing occupational health services, such as those to support sick workers and to ensure that workplaces are safe and healthy (1). Each year, over two million of the world’s workers die from occupational diseases and 160 million get sick from non-fatal occupational diseases (2). Disability adjusted life years (DALYs) are a measure of the years of a healthy life lost from disease and premature death; in 2005 43.0 million DALYs were estimated worldwide, as a result of lung cancer, leukemia and mesothelioma (3). It is estimated that 1.6 million of those DALYs could be attributed to exposure to occupational carcinogens (4). Occupational diseases are entirely preventable, but the ILO estimates occupational injuries and diseases cost the world 2.8 trillion USD each year (5). The overall worker death rate continues to increase, with the majority of deaths taking place in poorer countries with fewer legal protections for workers (6).

Despite being disproportionately affected, it is difficult to get an accurate picture of the occupationally-related morbidity and mortality being experienced in the poorest countries of the world. One of the greatest challenges encountered while conducting occupational health research in less economically developed countries (LEDCs), is a lack of local or even regional data to describe the extent of the problem. This includes information on exposure in general and in the form of exposure measurements, and information about the industry and population under study.