Employmentweb_low

employment relations and health inequalities: a conceptual and empirical overvieW
workplaces under the control of multinational corporations or
their subsidiaries control commodity prices and appropriate most
of the profits of these economic transfers. In the most unstable
and insecure regimes, a process of war and social destruction is
left behind. a second important transfer is that of products and
hazardous materials and substances, which mainly end up in poor
countries, where they constitute a threat both to the health of
workers and the environment. a final important transfer is that of
human beings. Workers from the south often migrate to wealthy
countries to work under the most difficult, low-paid and
hazardous jobs that workers in rich countries often reject for
themselves. High-skilled professionals from poor countries also
migrate to the wealthy regions, where they find places to develop
their skills, such that poor countries lose an important source of
human resources while rich countries profit from this workforce
transfer. an example is the approximately 60 million health
workers worldwide and the unequal distribution of health workers
throughout the world. There are severe inequalities between rich
and poor countries, as well as differences within countries,
especially between urban and rural areas. about two-thirds of
health workers provide health services, while the remaining third
is management and support workers. Each year, substantial
numbers of health workers leave the health workforce, helping to
provoke shortages which compromise the delivery and quality of
health services. Fifty-seven countries, most of them in africa and
asia, face severe workforce shortages. The WHO estimates that at
least 2,360,000 health service providers and 1,890,000
management support workers, or a total of 4,250,000 health
workers, are needed to fill this gap. Without prompt action, the
shortage will worsen. For example, in africa, the region south of
the Sahara, which contains 11 per cent of the world's population
and 24 per cent of the global disease burden, holds only 3 per cent
of the world's health workers (WHO, 2006). In order to prevent
social dumping and the over-exploitation of workers who are not
able to defend themselves, compliance with standards should be
internationally controlled and should not be compromised for any
reason whatsoever. Universal minimum standards are needed for
the health, safety and social protection of workers in all countries.
Similarly to countries and firms, the unequal distribution of
working conditions is a key contributor to social inequalities in
health through multiple occupational hazards. Exposures and
mechanisms vary significantly according to occupations and social
groups through key social axes such as social class, race or
The fishmarket in dubai, packed with
freshly caught prawns and other shellfish.
Cheap immigrant labour is used to prepare
the fish bought by restaurants and private
individuals. This is hard work especially in
summer because of intense heat (united
Arab Emirates).
source: © ilo/p. deloche (2002)
181