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Areas of Work
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Environmental Health and Food Safety
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Background
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After several reorganisations
in the government, the main responsibilities for water supply and sanitation
and pollution control services have been transferred from the Ministry of
Public Health to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The MoPH’s Bureau of Environmental Health limits its
responsibilities to providing technical support and capacity building,
especially to local organisations. The healthy
settings approach is used to promote healthy cities with clean public toilets
and healthy markets, schools and hospitals. The Bureau is currently
developing a National Environmental HealthAction
Plan (NEHAP). The Health Impact Assessment (HIA) approach is an important
tool to minimise the adverse environmental
influences on health. More support is needed to improve national capacity for
conducting HIAs. Future environmental challenges
include climate change, increasing urbanisation,
and the danger posed by hazardous waste and chemicals, including exposure to
heavy metals in the environment. These contaminants, from industrial or
natural sources, include asbestos, cadmium, arsenic and lead. Standards have
yet to be set for permissible levels of hazardous chemicals in food, water
and the environment, and surveillance of violations should be strictly
enforced.
Although occupational health has been a
prime concern for Thailand
for more than 30 years, accidents and diseases caused by the workplace
environment are on the rise. Besides accidents, the most common reports of
occupational health incidents are pesticide poisoning, skin disease due to
exposure to chemicals, back pain, lead poisoning and silicosis. The
government response to these problems is rather passive, and largely confined
to providing medical care or financial compensation to the victims. Effective
prevention of occupational hazards is still limited. Systems to report all
occupational health events need to be established and strengthened.
Occupational safety standards should be established and inspections
undertaken to ensure compliance.
The promotion of food safety is one of the
government’s priorities under the Healthy Thailand campaign. Food should be
safe for domestic consumption as well as for export. The government currently
assigns responsibility to several agencies. In the Ministry of Public Health
these include the Food and Drug Administration, the Bureau of Health Promotion, and the Bureau
of Environmental Health. In the Ministry of Agriculture, the agencies
concerned are the National Bureau of Agriculture Commodities and Food
Standards, the Department of Livestock Development, and the Department of
Fisheries. Good coordination and collaboration among these concerned agencies
needs to be strengthened.
Environment
Data and Statistics, click here.
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Activities
supported during Biennium 2006-2007
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 Strengthening of Chemical
Safety networking in Eastern Thailand
The assessment of heavy
metal contamination in natural water
Assessment of problems of
chemical and heavy metal pollution in natural water
An evaluation of national
silicosis elimination programme
Strengthening the surveillance system for health problems resulting
from chemical substance or pesticide use among farmers
Promotion of drinkable water quality testing and monitoring for rural
tap-water supply systems by local communities
Surveillance and risk assessment of electromagnetic field exposure
from electronic and radiation emitting sources
Assessment of household drinking
water quality in Thailand
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Key Events
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Third Regional High Level Officials' Meeting on
Environment and Health. Click here for UNEP information or click here for Regional
Initiative on Environment and Health in Southeast and East Asian Countries.
The First Ministerial Regional Forum on Environment and Health - click here,
for more information.
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Issues for Support during Biennium 2008-2009
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Evidence-based
assessments, norms and guidance on priority environmental health risks (e.g.
air quality, chemical substances, drinking water, wastewater reuse) prepared
and updated for monitoring international environmental agreements, including
the MDGs.
National environmental health action plan (NEHAP) and demonstration programmes supported to implement primary prevention
interventions to reduce environmental hazards to health, especially in local
settings, and among vulnerable populations.
Relevant agencies strengthened to improve occupational and
environmental health policy, occupational health service delivery (preventive
and promotive interventions) and program
surveillance.
WHO guidelines, tools and initiatives adopted/modified and
implemented in the Thai context to support the health sector to influence
policies in priority sectors to assess their health impacts and determine
costs and benefits of policy alternatives in those sectors, and encourage
their investments in health and safety.
Capacity enhanced for health sector leadership to formulate healthy
public (multi-sectoral) policy that would tackle
the root causes of environmental threats to health and address the
consequences of development on environmental health including climate change,
and altered patterns of consumption and production.
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Related Issues
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Health Impact Assessment, click here.
Household Water Treatment and Safe Storage, click here.
WHO International Programme on Chemical Safety, click here.
Globally
Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS), click here.
Indoor air pollution, click here.
Occupational health, click here.
Public health and environment, click here.
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, click here.
WHO Pesticides Evaluation Scheme: "WHOPES", click here.
International Chemical Control Toolkit, click here.
Healthy Settings, click here.
Climate Change, click here.
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