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Discussion on expanding National Occupational Diseases List China
People with Hepatitis are more common than people with HIV in China. Occupational infection of these blood borne pathogens should be considered an occupational disease for healthcare workers.
China is a country with high Hepatitis B and C prevalence. According to a report, 6% of the global Hepatitis B carriers are from China. The national experts estimated that Hepatitis B prevalence in China was as high as 7.18%. Meanwhile, China has 9 million healthcare workers, which accounts for nearly 10% of all healthcare workers globally. If the majority of Chinese hospitals do not improve their occupational safety and health conditions, health care workers will stay high risk for hepatitis B and C.
“Integration of HIV into the occupational diseases list in 2013 is a milestone in China for protecting occupational safety and health of healthcare workers. The conduct is also in line with the ILO Recommendation 194 Concerning Occupational Diseases List”, said Tim De Meyer, Director of the ILO Office for China and Mongolia, “The ILO highly recommends the government to consider expanding the national occupational diseases list to include, hepatitis B and C and other blood borne pathogens”.
With the support of the ILO HIV and OSH Program, MOHRSS carried out the research on Integration of Hepatitis B and C into the National Occupational Diseases List in 2015. A policy consultation workshop on this regard will be held to discuss key findings of the research with stakeholders. The workshop will specifically focus on how to integrate Hepatitis B and C into the National Occupational Diseases List and strategies for better protecting occupational safety and health of healthcare workers in China.
The workshop will be carried out on May 31st 2016 in Beijing with participation of officials from related technical departments in MOHRSS, NHFPC and ACFTU, representatives of hospital managers and healthcare workers from major hospitals, experts from National Institute of Occupational Health and Poison Control (NIOHP), National labour Studies Institute (MOHRSS), Social Security Studies Institute (MOHRSS), National STDs and AIDS Prevention and Control (China CDC), and National Fund of Hepatitis as well.
