Announcements: The 18^th National Publicity Week of Occupational Disease Prevention and Control — April 25 to May 1, 2020

The 18^th Publicity Week of the Law on Prevention and Control of Occupational Disease will be held from April 25 to May 1 of this year and has been held since 2003.

China has the largest working population in the world with about 776 million workers with most of them spending at least half their lives working (1). Globalization and industry revolution bring the coexistence of traditional and modern occupational hazards and present both current and future challenges in occupational health.

To fully implement national deployments of occupational disease prevention and control and protect workers’ health, the National Health Commission of China has launched a series of activities during the Publicity Week themed with “Occupational Health Protection, Time to Act.”

Focused on the Occupational Health Protection Campaign and the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Pneumoconiosis, primary activities during this week include promoting knowledge and awareness of occupational health in businesses, providing occupational health management training, conducting questionnaire surveys about awareness of core knowledge on occupational health, and showcasing excellent publicizing portfolios of occupational health.

The publicity week is a comprehensive strategy to prevent and control occupational diseases and to promote work on occupational health, aiming to disseminate knowledge of occupational health, improve workers’ awareness, and integrate the resources of the government, employers, workers, and other stakeholders to prioritize occupational health protection.