Claudina Nogueira, AA 6 Manager, National Institute for Occupational Health, South Africa

Claudina graduated from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg with Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Medical Biochemistry. In 1995, she was appointed to a full-time research post at the National Centre for Occupational Health (NCOH), part of the National Department of Health of South Africa, where she worked as part of a team of researchers investigating aluminium exposure and toxicity.

Other professional highlights of Claudina’s include the establishment of a Molecular Biology / PCR Laboratory at the NCOH and sabbatical at the Department of Pathology at the University of Sydney, Australia. In 2003, she transferred out of the Biochemistry Section to manage the newly created Training and International Collaboration Section at the NCOH, which was renamed the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH). Main objectives of the section are the promotion of occupational health and safety and the development of human resources in the SADC Region, through international training and outreach programmes.

As a WHO Collaborating Centre in Occupational Health since 2005, the NIOH was closely involved with the development and the launch of the new WHO CC in OH Global Network Plan 2006 – 2010. Claudina is the network manager of Activity Area 6: Communication and Networking, which aims to establish a communication network to serve as a resource of knowledge and skills in occupational health; market the scientific information products of the six Activity Areas; and assist in fund-raising efforts of the Activity Areas. Claudina notes that an especially rewarding experience of being involved with the management of Activity Area 6 has been the development of South-South collaborations; the NIOH has now established collaborative links with Brazil, Mozambique and Portugal, which she hopes will contribute extensively to the dissemination of occupational health and safety information and capacity building in countries where Portuguese is the official language.

Claudina has a small family circle in Johannesburg; parents, a brother, and two nephews. In her leisure time, she enjoys Latin-American and Ballroom dancing, hiking, cinema, calligraphy and cake decorating.

Psychosocial RIsk MAnagement - European Framework (PRIMA-EF)

	The PRIMA-EF project was formally launched at the Institute of Work, Health and Organisations' facility at Jubilee Campus, University of Nottingham

By Stavroula Leka and Aditya Jain, Institute of Work, Health & Organisations, University of Nottingham, United Kingdom

In January 2007, the Institute of Work, Health & Organisations (I-WHO), a WHO Collaborating Centre in Occupational Health since 1994, was awarded a €750,000 grant to study psychosocial risks and work-related stress. Dr. Stavroula Leka and Professor Tom Cox are leading the study which involves seven partners including four WHO CCs: the National Institute for Occupational Safety & Prevention, Italy; the Federal Institute of Occupational Safety & Health, Germany; TNO Quality of Life, Work & Employment, Netherlands; the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Finland; the Central Institute for Labour Protection, Poland; WHO; and ILO. This collaborative policy research project, funded by the European Commission (EC) 6th Framework Programme, is focusing on the development of a European framework for psychosocial risk management with a special focus on work-related stress and workplace violence including harassment, bullying, and mobbing. This project is included in the work plan of the WHO Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health under Activity Area 3: Practical Approaches to Identify and Reduce Occupational Risks.

Psychosocial risks are those aspects of work design and the organisation and management of work, and their social and environmental context, that have the potential for causing psychological, social, or physical harm. They have been identified as being among the major contemporary challenges for occupational health and safety and are linked to such workplace problems as work-related stress, violence, and bullying. Work-related stress affects more than 40 million people across the EU; costing at least €20 billion a year in lost time and health bills.

The study places special emphasis on high-risk worker groups such as migrant, older, and female workers along with occupational sectors such as healthcare, construction, and agriculture. The study seeks to address relevant gender issues and key issues relating to the implementation of best practices in the context of different enterprises, in particular small and medium-sized enterprises. The results will be disseminated widely with the support of the WHO and the International Labour Organisation.

I-WHO and their partners will develop international standards, best-practice guidance, and awareness campaigns on the subject. This research will promote the translation of knowledge on mental health and psychological well-being into policy and practice, not only across Europe but also internationally. The consortium will work synergistically with national regulatory bodies and partners in other countries to ensure a wide impact of the project outcomes and the initiation of the development of an international network of centres of excellence in psychosocial risk management.

More information about the project can be found at http://www.prima-ef.org.
More information about I-Who can be found at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/iwho.

	WHO meeting on Workers Health in Africa

By Leslie Nickels, AA 4 Manager

AA4 includes over 60 academic training, continuing education, teaching tools, and technical materials projects. Activities for the past six months have included naming Norbert Wagner, MD, University of South Florida, as Deputy AA Manager for academic projects, updating project progress, and referencing projects with the Global Plan of Action’s (GPA) five objectives. Dr. Wagner is involved a number of AA4 projects including conducting a train-the-trainer course on creating distance learning courses. Most AA4 projects support objectives 2 and 3 of the GPA: working towards “full coverage of workers” and “strengthen institutional capacities…for dealing with the special health needs of working populations.”

An AA4 project highlight is “Distance Education in Occupational Safety and Health.” This project includes the delivery of a graduate level public health course taught on-line for 21 participants from 12 countries. This course was offered in 2002 for 17 participants. International participants receive a certificate of completion indicating the number of contact hours completed.

AA4 goals for the next 6 months are to increase communication between Collaborating Center occupational health projects in Africa; increase promotion of projects for building capacity through education, training, and technical materials; enhance the structure and use of the Global Environmental and Occupational Health Library, http://www.geolibrary.org; and explore opportunities for strengthening collaborations and increasing technical assistance.

In August, I had the opportunity to attend the WHO organized “Meeting on Workers Health in Africa: Action in Partnerships” held in Brazzaville, Congo. In addition to program organizers, attendees included Dr. Ivanov from WHO, Mr. Pule from WHO AFRO, participants from eight countries, the business community, and the ILO. Also participating was Dr. Benjamin Fayomi, Director of the Centre OMS en Sante au Travail S/C collaborating center in Benin. Attendees heard from representatives of labor and health organizations about building capacity for occupational health for all and how the GPA relates to their needs. Issues included the need to develop centers of excellence at the country level, the call for innovative approaches to building capacity including the role of outreach workers, and collaboration between ministries of health and labor. Mr. Muchiri from ILO Africa Region summed up the meeting by saying, “let’s work together to have synergy.”

By Wendy Macdonald, AA1 Manager

The Global Plan of Action on Workers’ Health 2008-2017 points out that “increasing international movements of jobs, products and technologies” have both positive and negative potential. These aspects of ‘globalisation’ can “help to spread innovative solutions for prevention of occupational hazards, but can also lead to a shift of that risk to less advantaged groups.”

Recognising the importance of globalisation for occupational health, the primary focus of Activity Area 1 (AA1) is ‘global situation analysis.’ Its initial aims are to describe and analyse how globalisation and associated changes in employment patterns and working conditions are affecting occupational health and the prerequisites for its future development. It then aims to identify key issues and implications for some of the future activities of the Centres within our Network and associated organisations to promote development of a more integrated approach within the Network’s Global Work Plan to address these issues.

In the core project, AA1:1, work is proceeding on two overview reports. The first focuses on globalisation and its consequences for labour markets, employment patterns and working conditions, while the second will provide an overview account of occupational safety and health in a globalised world, considering the situation in both industrialised and developing countries. The other AA1 projects provide more focused studies of specific aspects of the topic – for example: the effects of globalisation on health care and occupational health in Vietnam, changes in labour organisation affecting workers’ health in Latin America, and effects of global economic integration on OHS in China.

	Marilyn Fingerhut visits the Singapore Collaborating Centres

By Marilyn Fingerhut, Co-Coordinator, WHO Global Network of Collaborating Centres in Occupational Health

During a trip to Singapore and Malaysia, I visited the two Singapore WHO Collaborating Centers. Key recent accomplishments of Ministry of Manpower (MOM) Occupational Safety and Health Division are the March 2007 Workplace Safety and Health Strategy 2015 developed by MOM and stakeholders and a subsequent “Implementation Guide for the Construction Industry” (http://www.wsh.sg). MOM staff are conducting 7 projects in the Global Network 2006-2010 Work Plan.

At the University of Singapore Department of Community, Occupational and Family Medicine, I learned of the publication on the appropriate use of personal protective equipment among health care workers in hospitals in Singapore, China, and Japan during the SARS outbreak by Sin Eng Chia, Director WHO CC, Dr. David Koh, and others. (J Intl Society for Resp Protection 23: 67-76m 2006). Their survey of 28,000 health care workers in Singapore, Japan, and China establishes a critical need to educate about proper respiratory protection before the next pandamic.

I also visited the University of Malaya Occupational and Environmental Health Unit, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, which is considering applying to become a WHO Collaborating Center in Occupational Health.

	Professor Xue-qi GU

Professor Xue-qi GU, the Emeritus Member of International Commission of Occupational Health, former Director of the WHO Collaboration Center for Occupational Health (Shanghai, China), Director of Department of Occupational Health, Acting Dean of School of Public Health, Shanghai Medical University, passed away in Shanghai on June 11, 2007 at age 97. Professor GU, born in Shanghai, China in 1911, was a 1938 graduate of National Shanghai Medical College and was granted a master diplomat of Public Health by the Harvard School of Public Health in 1947.

Professor Le Van Trung, the President of the Vietnam Association of Occupational Health, the Former Director of the Vietnam National Institute of Occupational and Environmental Health (NIOEH), and the Former Director of the WHO Collaborating Center on Occupational Health, passed away on June 14th, 2007. Professor Le Van Trung was a long-time collaboration partner of the International Commission on Occupational Health. He arranged for a Memorandum of Agreement with NIOSH and NIOEH and was Director of the first Fogarty grant with NIOEH.

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