PUBLIC HEALTH

OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH Occupational Health The Occupational Health component aims to promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations. Strategies to achieve this include a surveillance system for work-related diseases, poisoning and injuries; integration of occupational health activities into primary health care facilities; research into work-related illnesses; development of guidelines on occupational health and safety; health education; and training; and, collaboration with relevant agencies involved with occupational health, both locally and internationally. The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 provides the legal support for this program. The Occupational Health Unit in the Sarawak State Health Office has been designated an ILO-CIS Collaborating Centre (International Occupational Safety and Health Information Collaborating Centre) for the promotion and dissemination of Occupational Safety and Health Information. Healthy City/Town And Settings Initiatives These initiatives aim to enable the stakeholders to create and maintain the urban environment that is conducive and healthy economically, socially, spiritually and physically. To achieve the objective, activities are carried out through Healthy Cities/Towns and Healthy Settings approach. The approach seeks to put health on the agenda of decision-makers in urban areas and to build a strong lobby for public health at the local level. It is an effective and popular mechanism for promoting policies and program based on Health for All and Local Agenda 21. While the starting point of Healthy City is health, its underlying approach has always been on a model of good urban governance, which includes broad political commitment, intersectoral planning, city-wide partnerships, community participation, and monitoring and evaluation. Successful implementation of this approach requires explicit political commitment, leadership and institutional change, intersectoral partnerships, innovative actions addressing all aspects of health and living conditions, and extensive networking between cities, locally and beyond.This approach has been adopted by Sarawak with the launching of the Kuching Healthy City Project in 1995. Environmental Health The Environmental Health Component aims to promote a healthy environment by identifying, assessing and improving the environment through health promotion, protection and prevention of environmental-related diseases. Strategies to achieve this include capacity building, disease surveillance, collaboration with relevant agencies, effective hazard and risk communication system, and implementation of healthy city/town and settings initiatives. e-mail us at shd@sarawak.health.gov.my