10% of working Thais ill: survey
Public Health Minister Wittaya Buranasiri yesterday said one in every 10 working-age Thai suffers from a chronic disease. 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 yesterday, Wittaya cited a 2009 report showing that one in 10 working people suffered a chronic disease. The top three illnesses are coronary artery disease (32 per cent); diabetes (21 per cent); and respiratory disease (27 per cent). The ministry will work with Labour and Industry ministries to set the criteria for a disease-free working environment and issue guidelines for employers to take care of workers who spend 53,000 hours at the workplace. It will also campaign for healthy food, no smoking and stress-reduction activities. In the first year, the project will focus on three multinational firms, namely Honda, Toyota and Canon.
The World Health Organisation said 1,900 million working-age people – including 170 million child labourers – were at risk of health problems.
