Communique Issued by the Society of Occupational and Environmental Health Physicians of Nigeria (SOEHPON) at the End of Her 2017 Annual Conference

Posted on: Thu 07-12-2017

The 2017 Annual Scientific Conference was held at The Civic Centre, Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Victoria Island, Lagos State from 7th-11th November 2017 with a Theme; Occupational Health for All.

About 20 papers were presented at this Conference, besides Keynote Speech and panel discussions on a wide range of Occupational Health and Safety(OH&S) challenges in Nigeria , from which the Conference arrived at the following resolutions:

1. That the health of the Nigerian worker has been negatively impacted by recession and insurgent attacks with more incidents of work related illnesses, mental stress and accidents in the very recent past.

2. That information on occupational healthcare provision and awareness in Nigeria is suboptimal. especially in the Paramilitary, Military and Informal sector.

3. That enabling policies, regulation and legislation in Nigeria needed to promote Occupational Health for All are weak and with very poor compliance enforcement management system.

4. That Capacity building training, research and data collection in occupational healthcare delivery in Nigeria is very poor.

5. That the Health Impact Assessment component of Project EIA is never detailed and comprehensive enough to enable good prospective health planning for projects and programmes, hence the need for EIA to be renamed ESHIAto properly accommodate the HIA aspect in line with global trends and best practices.

6. Accordingly, it was recommended that SOEH PON should do the following;

6.1 Network with all relevant Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) MDAs and stakeholders through proper advocacy, in order to increase awareness in Occupational health and for Action.

6.2 Sustain and improve on the provision of technical support to the Federal Ministries of Labour, Employment & Productivity, Health and Environment and other OH&S Stakeholders, to actualize the passage of the revised OH&S and Welfare Bill into law.

6.3 Collaborate with the West African College of Physicians (Community Health) and Faculty of Occupational Medicine, UK on the training and certification of Occupational Health Physicians in Nigeria.

6.4 Collaborate with International Labour Organization (ILO) in Nigeria on the promotion of preventive OH&S programmes and practice at Work places in Nigeria.

6.5 Provide capacity building trainings, research and facilitate data collection in occupational healthcare service delivery in Nigeria.

6.6 Ensure Public and Occupational Health physicians play active role in Project/Programme Environmental Social Health Impact Assessment (ESHIA) studies.

6.7 Ensure National Policies, Standards and Guidelines are in place for all Occupations that include but not limited to Construction Work sector of our Economy.

6.8 Organize more periodic CMEICPD Updates courses on contemporary and practical OH challenges like. PTSD/Psychiatry in order to improve OH knowledge and skills among Professionals/ Practitioners and for enhanced performance and wellbeing of the workforce in Nigeria.

6.9 Ensure Work Standards and Guidelines are produced for the large underserved informallartisanal work sector of our economy to affirm the Conference theme. 6.10 Improve and consolidate OH&S Advocacy Skills in order to convince Government, Employers of Labour and other OH&S Stakeholders on the need to provide necessary Legislation, Policies and Regulations that would promote sustainable OH&S programmes and practice in Nigeria.

6.11 Collaborate and partner the more with ILO Country Office in Nigeria, in order to provide the needed leadership role in the promotion and provision of good Occupational Health and Safety practice, Institutions and Infrastructure in Nigeria.

7. That both Nigeria WHO office and Federal Health Ministry should be more concerned with health of persons in occupations as this constitute about 70% of Nigeria population.

8.0. And finally SOEHPON advises government to enact policies/legislation that are in tandem with international best practices and to ensure that obsolete Occupational Health and Safety laws are reviewed and updated for ease of compliance and implementation in Nigeria.

Signed:

Dr. Okon Akiba

National President

Dr. Uche Unumah

National Secretary

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