A three-day consultation was held in Semnan, Islamic Republic of Iran, from 28–30 April 2014, to focus on occupational health services interventions, indicators and service delivery, and identify policy options, strategies and mechanisms to scale-up health coverage of workers. The consultation was organized jointly by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Semnan University of Medical Sciences, in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) and the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA).
The main objectives of the consultation were to:
- share and document success stories and accumulated experience in delivering essential interventions and basic health services to workers in the informal sector and small enterprises, and rural, agricultural and migrant workers;
- identify criteria and indicators for measuring progress towards the access of workers to essential interventions for prevention and control of occupational and work-related diseases and injuries;
- draw a road map for scaling-up access of all workers in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, particularly those in disadvantaged situations, to essential interventions and basic integrated health services in the context of universal health coverage and decent work initiatives.
The international consultation was attended by national and regional experts from Bahrain, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Sudan, United Arab Emirates and Yemen, as well as international experts from Finland, India, Italy, Netherlands and South Africa, and representatives of ICOH, ILO, WONCA and WHO.
Connecting health and labour: what role for occupational health in primary health care