Health at workplace

Project title: Reduction of the burden of injuries and occupational exposures through capacity building in low income countries.

Background

Most persons in Tanzanian workforce are working in agriculture, but several types of industries are rapidly increasing, such as mining and different types of manufacture. The magnitude of occupational accidents and diseases arising from the economic activities in Tanzania is yet to be ascertained due to a total lack of coordinated national reporting system for such incidents.

In 2003 a new OHS Act was enacted in Tanzania, providing for safety and health of people at work. An OHS national policy has been formulated and an executive agency is given the responsibility for coordinating the policy making and implementation of the OHS law -OSHA. Hence, the situation seems promising in the respect of possible improvements for the worker’s situation. 

Ethiopia has shown an impressive economic growth over the last few years and improved agricultural products and massive industrialization activities are underway in both the urban and rural areas, increasing the numbers of workers. Health and safety related to these types of work places is hardly developed, as there is little knowledge in the country among workers, employers, health personnel and policy makers. Unofficial reports indicate that occupational injuries and diseases are increasing, but there is no statistics available to describe the situation properly. 

Workers and especially workplace/factory inspectors need to be well informed about the various hazards of the modern workplaces where little competence is available. To attain this there is a need to improve the capacity and competence of responsible departments within the East African universities, particularly in Tanzania and Ethiopia, as well as Ministries of Labour, Social Affairs and Ministries of Health. Occupational health and safety in both Tanzania and Ethiopia is still in its early stages of development.

Tanzania and Ethiopia have a few competent persons in this field, but very few courses are offered by national universities in this field and the number of teachers is insufficient. Hence, there is both a need to develop sustainable educational programmes in OHS disciplines, strengthen the capacities of academic staff at the universities for teaching as well as conducting high quality relevant research as well as developing solid training programmes for occupational health inspectors. Capacity building within this field is a priority from both governments.

Strengthening capacity to ensure sustainable educational programmes in Occupational Health and Safety and promote high quality relevant Occupational Health research conducted by countries own researchers.

The project will aim to strengthen capacity at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania and Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia to deliver high quality education programs in Occupational Health Safety at various levels (Ba, Masters, and PhD) in order to educate professionals working in occupational health and safety areas. Research will include post-doc fellowships, which will contribute to strengthen the knowledge base through relevant research for dissemination to policy makers, legislators and leaders planning preventive measures in these countries.

Both universities are focusing on gender equality for participation in education and research, and gender perspectives will be integrated and will be an important part of the research projects, with a special attention to female workers.

An important component of the project is to develop the laboratory facilities and to train staff in using equipment for work condition evaluations. Tools like an E-book on occupational environmental health in East Africa will be prepared and launched. There will be a close collaboration with labour inspection authorities related to the field work and practical training of the students.

The project is based on previous Norwegian support for collaboration and research within occupational and environmental health between MUHAS, UiB and AAU. Some key professionals in the project has earned their PhDs from Norway.

Key goals and achievements

Overall goal

Reduction of injuries and diseases at workplaces in Tanzania and Ethiopia.

The objectives of the project are

1. Increased capacity to deliver high quality education in Occupational Health Safety disciplines in NORHED supported institute/department/faculty at MUHAS and AAU.
2. Increased capacity to deliver relevant and high quality research at MUHAS and AAU.
3. Regional/international collaboration in education and research increased and improved at MUHAS, AAU and UiB.
4. Appropriate infrastructure, policies and systems to ensure sustainable capacity to educate and research at MUHAS and AAU.
5. Institutional policies in place at MUHAS and AAU to ensure gender balance and anti-discriminations, and retention of staff.