10% of Thais 15-59 chronically ill, says survey

As a result the ministry has launched a health promotion campaign to reduce risk among the country’s 40 million people aged 15-59.

Presiding over the project launch in Ayutthaya Wednesday, Wittaya cited a 2009 report that one in 10 working people suffered a chronic disease.

The top three illnesses were: coronary artery disease (32 per cent); diabetes (21 per cent); and respiratory disease (27 per cent). 

The ministry will work with the Labour Ministry and Industry Ministry to set the criteria for a disease-free safe-environment business establishment to take care of employees who spend 53,000 hours at the workplace. It will also campaign for healthy food, no smoking and stress-reduction. In the first year, the project would have one pilot establishment per province, and the three pilot companies were Honda, Toyota and Canon.

The Nation