National Centre of Public Health Protection. Bulgaria
Project title
Developing of indicators for occupational health activities in Bulgaria
Keywords
Health indicators, occupational diseases, occupational accidents, work-related diseases, occupational health services, working conditions parameters
Project leader
Email address
Prof. Emilia Ivanovich
emiliaiva@yahoo.ca
Partners (of the CC Network)
FIOH, FIOH, Institute of Occupational Medicine, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Institute of Occupational & Radiological Health, Serbia and Montenegro
Decision makers at national and company level, social partners
Summary of the project
The process of restructuring of occupational health and safety system in Bulgaria is still going on. During the past decade a harmonization of the legislation with the European one has been completed. New approaches as the implementation of the occupational health services and the integrated control have been implemented. The existing situation needs to be evaluated and evidences for new National Occupational Health Program with new priorities will be provided.
Dissemination
WHO; Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour and social policy; social partners
Impact (global or regional)
National and regional
Progress on Project (max 100 words)
- National Occupational Health profiles for the years 1999 – 2005 have been carried out;
- The dynamics of the main indicators have been established;
- A comparison between selected national indicators and other EU countries and countries from South-Eastern Europe have been made.
List of outcomes already achieved by this project
As above
List of additional outcomes expected from this project by 2012
2009-2012 Work Plan Number
GPA4.21b
Formerly AA2:NP4
GPA Objective
Objective 4: To provide and communicate evidence for action and practice
CC or NGO Name
Coronel Institute of Occupational Health AMC/Netherlands Center for Occupational Diseases, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Project Title
Development and validation of quality indicators for national registration systems of occupational diseases
A European Study
Keywords
occupational diseases, work-related diseases, registries, health policy, prevention & control, quality indicators, occupational health, health surveillance, evaluation
Project leader
Email Adress
Dick Spreeuwers
d.spreeuwers@amc.uva.nl
Partners (of the CC Network)
University of Manchester
Other partners
Many centres have been consulted during the project, mainly in European Union states
Funding
Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment; there is not yet funding for transformation in a WHO technical report (if agreed upon this topic as appropriate for WHO publication)
Objective of the project
The aim of this study is to develop a tool for evaluation of national registration systems of occupational diseases with respect to their ability to provide essential information for preventive policy. The specific questions in this project are: 1. Which indicators determine the quality of national registration systems of occupational diseases with respect to their ability to provide essential information for preventive policy? 2. Which criteria do these indicators have to meet to provide good quality information?
Project outcome(s) and deadline(s) for completion of the project
A valid tool for evaluation of national registration systems of occupational diseases with respect to their ability to provide essential information for preventive policy.
Deadline for completion: June 2006
Target group and/or beneficiaries
Policymakers on national and international level; experts on notification systems in (national) institutes for occupational health and safety.
Summary of the project
Objectives to develop a tool for evaluation of national registration systems of occupational diseases to provide information for preventive policy.
Methods Literature search, development of quality indicators, test of content validity, adjustments in Delphi study (25 experts EU countries)
Results Two different types of information output are essential: alert and monitor information. We defined indicators and criteria for quality, and made adjustments.
Conclusions We have developed a valid tool for evaluation of national registration systems of occupational diseases with respect to their ability to provide essential information for preventive policy. We can use this tool to evaluate national registration systems.
Dissemination
Magazine Article, scientific journal article, transformation into a WHO technical report is possible, interest of ILO?
Impact (global or regional)
Global. The tool can be used to evaluate and compare national registration systems of occupational diseases of all countries
Progress on Project
We have developed a valid tool for evaluating national registration systems of occupational diseases with respect to their ability to provide appropriate information for preventive policy, and called it “ODIT”. We performed a Delphi study, in which 16 international experts participated, to validate the tool.
The main elements to be assessed are the ability to provide monitor information and alert information. The provision of clear criteria that demarcate low and high quality makes it a valuable instrument to assess the quality of a registration system. We think that it can serve as a starting point for a quality improvement process of registration systems of occupational diseases.
We are now performing the second part of the project. This part
consists of testing the feasibility and usability of the tool in 7 countries. We expect to complete the study in September. We want to submit an article on the second part of the study to a scientific journal by the end of 2007.
List of outcomes already achieved by this project
As above
List of additional outcomes expected from this project by 2012
2009-2012 Work Plan Number
GPA4.21c
Formerly AA2:NP8
GPA Objective
Objective 4: To provide and communicate evidence for action and practice
CC or NGO Name
Institute for Occupational Physiology at Dortmund University, Federal Republic of Germany
Project Title
Bladder Cancer Documentation of Causes: the multilingual questionnaire “Bladder Cancer Doc”
Keywords
Urinary bladder cancer, occupational exposure, life style, bladder carcinogens
Project leader
Email Address
Klaus Golka, Privatdozent, MD
golka@ifado.de
Partners (of the CC Network)
Prof. Konrad Rydzynski, Nofer Institute, Lodz, Poland
Other Partners
Dr. Mohammad Aslam, Pakistan; Prof. Jinhua Shen, China; Dr. Jasmin Hodzic, Germany; Prof. Nursen Basaran, Turkey; Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Fumihiko Ikoma, Japan; Prof. Imre Romic, Hungaria; Patricia Casares Gonzalez, Germany/Mexico; Prof. Miriam Angeli-Greaves, Venezuela; Dr. Trinh Vu Duc, Swiss/Vietnam; Dr. Fransiska Zakaria, Indonesia; Maria Soufi, Germany/Greece; Rouslana Belik, Germany/Belarus; Dr. Boo-Hyon Kang, Korea; Dr. Yael Abbreu-Villaca, Brasil; Henrietta Galambos, Slovac Republic; Privat-Docent Dr. Patrice Jichlinski, Swiss; Prof. Rama Devi Mittal, India; Dipl.-Ing. Christian Scutaru, Germany/Romania; Rowshanak Angari Anbari, Germany/Iran; Prof. Giorgio Assennato, Italy; Dr. Hamza, Germany; Dr. Ing. Mohit Kumar, Germany; Sridhar Reddy Swarna, Germany, Nenn Phannawat, Germany/Thailand
Funding
In place
Objective of the project
To identify subjects that might suffer from occupational bladder cancer in developing and in industrialized countries
Project outcome(s) and deadline(s) for completion of the project
The questionnaire will be made public by an accompanying article. It is intended to present the questionnaires as Word and as pdf files in the world wide web.
Deadline(s) for completion of the project
The manuscript will be written by Klaus Golka and Konrad Rydzynski. The text will then be sent to the partners who review the manuscript. Overall 12-18 months are realistic.
Target group and/or beneficiaries
Occupationally exposed bladder cancer patients, health care professionals, health insurances
Summary of the project
The questionnaire presents the relevant causes of occupational bladder cancer in more than 20 languages (eg. English, Urdu, Chinese, Serbo-Croation, Turkish, Japanese, Hungarian, Spanish/Mexican, Spanish/Venezuelan, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Greek, Russian, Slovak, Czech, French, Hindi, Romanian, Persian, Italian, Arabian, Punjabi, Telugo, Thai, Polish).
Dissemination
Article in a specialty journal listed in Medline/PubMed, homepage of the Institute for Occupational Physiology at Dortmund University
Impact (global or regional)
Global
Progress on Project
A questionnaire has been successfully developed to promote the identification of persons at higher risk of bladder cancer. The questionnaire is available in more than 20 languages and has been used to identify individuals that might suffer from occupational bladder cancer in developing and in industrialized countries. Occupational exposures covered by the questionnaire can be found in the WHO GOHNET Newsletter ‘Prevention of Occupational Cancer’ Summer 2006.
Results gained by the questionnaire have also been presented at a state-wide (North Rhine-Westphalia) symposium on environmental medicine, May 10-11.
List of outcomes already achieved by this project
As above
List of additional outcomes expected from this project by 2012
2009-2012 Work Plan Number
GPA4.21d
Formerly AA2:NP15
GPA Objective
Objective 4: To provide and communicate evidence for action and practice
CC or NGO Name
Institute and Outpatient Clinic for Occupational and Environmental Medicine, University of Munich, Ziemssenstr. 1, D-80336 Munich
Project title
SOLAR – Study on OccupationaL Allergy Risks
Keywords
occupational asthma, occupational allergies, adolescents, ISAAC follow up, cohort study
Project leader
Email address
Dr. Katja Radon MSc
katja.radon@med.uni-muenchen.de
Partners (of the CC Network)
Other partners
IMIM Barcelona
University of Manchester
University of Gothenburg
Bispebjerg Hospital Copenhagen
National Health Development Institute (NHDI) Estonia
Carl Gustav Carus University Dresden
University of Sosnoviecz
Global Asthma and Allergy Network of Excellence GA2LEN
Funding
German Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs
German Society for Occupational and Environmental Medicine
European Union
Objective of the project
To conduct a prospective cohort study on occupational asthma and allergies in adolescent workers
Project outcome(s) and deadline(s) for completion of the project
The first follow-up of the German cohort has now been completed, the 2nd follow-up is currently planned and will be finished 2010.
For the international study the application for funding has recently started.
Target group and/or beneficiaries
Adolescents entering working life
Summary of the project
About 10 % of all asthmatic diseases are attributed to occupational factors. Due to the cross-sectional character of most studies performed in this field, only limited prospective data have been collected. None of these took childhood factors into account as all of them started in adulthood. We have initiated a follow-up survey of the ISAAC (International Study on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) II cohort in Munich and Dresden in order to conduct a prospective cohort study on occupational asthma and allergies that starts in early childhood until well beyond the age of working life. In addition, an international study is prepared.
Dissemination
Website, e-learning cases, brochure for physicians and students.
Impact (global or regional)
Health-based recommendations to adolescents regarding choice of job are under preparation.
Progress on Project
About 10 % of all asthmatic diseases are attributed to occupational factors. Due to the cross-sectional character of most studies performed in this field, only limited prospective data have been collected. None of these took childhood factors into account as all of them started in adulthood.
We have initiated a follow-up survey of the ISAAC (International Study on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood) II cohort in Munich and Dresden in order to conduct a prospective cohort study on occupational asthma and allergies that starts in early childhood until well beyond the age of working life.
In addition, an international study starting at the last year of secondary schools is being prepared.
List of outcomes already achieved by this project
As above
List of additional outcomes expected from this project by 2012
2009-2012 Work Plan Number
GPA4.21e
Formerly AA2:NP20
GPA Objective
Objective 4: To provide and communicate evidence for action and practice
Identify risk factors for musculoskeletal symptoms and sick leave. Develop methods for quantifying ergonomic risk factors.
Project outcome: Completion of the project:
Scientific article
To be completed at the end of 2006
Target group and/or beneficiaries
Researchers, the offshore industry, safety professionals in the maritime area and shore based industry
Summary of the project
Job analyses of all jobs on an offshore drilling rig with 80 employees are performed. Observational methods are used to quantify working postures and heavy material handling. This is combined with personnel registers to identify workers at risk of developing musculoskeletal symptoms, and recommend solutions for improvements. The solutions are either technical or based on job training.
Dissemination
Scientific paper, conferences
Impact (global or regional)
Global
Progress on Project
The first phase of the project has been completed. This involved a complete ergonomic survey of work tasks on a North Sea drilling rig. The report is published on www.maritimemedicine.dk. The next phase will start in late 2007, where interventions involving ergonomic improvements and a physical back training programme will be initiated as part of a PhD study.
List of outcomes already achieved by this project
Report as above
List of additional outcomes expected from this project by 2012
Funding now suspended. Dept now engaged in a 4 year accident prevention study including all oil operators in the Danish sector of the North Sea.
