BEIJING: China has witnessed a continuing downward trend of occupational disease prevalence in the country, with a 40 percent decrease in newly diagnosed occupational disease cases between 2019 and 2022.
Occupational health occupies a pivotal position in China’s broader health strategy, and health risk man-agement is deemed a fundamental measure in preventing and controlling occupational diseases at their source.
In this regard, the National Health Commission (NHC) in January 2022 launched a four-year campaign targeting workplaces with excessive dust, toxic chemicals, and noise across the country.
Over the past two years, a total of 185,000 enterprises have been included in the campaign, of which 71,000 have already implemented measures to address relevant risks, according to NHC data released at a press conference held on Friday in Beijing. According to NHC official Wang Jiandong, the commission has also established a key laboratory for dust hazard protection to develop critical technologies for occupational disease prevention and control.
China’s fight for workers’ health goes beyond traditional occupational maladies. Equal emphasis has been placed on tackling emerging risks such as unhealthy work practices and excessive job-related stress.
Starting from 2019, China’s occupational disease and health risk monitoring system has been covering all types of illnesses. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
