Occupational Health

What We Do › Occupational Health

“We used to go to work with a heavy feeling of fear, exposing ourselves to the danger of infection every day. There was no ventilation system in the building where we worked, and it was too small. We had to carry out various laboratory procedures in a single room, against elementary professional safety standards.”

Anna Kantser, senior laboratory technician, speaking at the October 2005 opening ceremony for the Regional Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory in Bender. The lab was renovated through AIHA’s Strengthening Tuberculosis Control in Moldova project.

Healthcare workers routinely face job-related hazards that range from needle-stick injuries and latex allergy to back injuries, violence, and stress. In the United States, rates of occupational injury to healthcare workers have risen over the past decade, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In developing and transitioning countries, rates of occupational exposure to blood-borne illnesses and other communicable diseases is estimated to be much higher. At the same time, healthcare facilities in resource-constrained settings are also usually overburdened and understaffed, leading to additional stress and strain on clinicians and allied health professionals.

Occupational health remains neglected in many developing and transitioning countries because of competing economic, social, and political needs. These countries often focus on providing clinical care and treatment and place less emphasis on preventive services. The range of activities covered by occupational health services can be extensive and different models may be effectively applied in low-resource settings.

Since our first hospital-based partnerships were established, AIHA has worked to ensure the safety of healthcare providers and other caregivers by helping partners implement universal precautions and infection control protocols, as well as developing training programs for a wide range of practitioners and policymakers.

Projects

AIHA’s efforts to improve occupational health in partnership countries are carried out through specific programmatic activities, including:

Occupational Health Information Resources

Disseminating accurate, timely information rooted in evidence-based practices and sharing successful models and lessons learned plays an important role in AIHA’s strategy for sustainable healthcare programs. For more information about occupational health programs, please visit the following links:

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