VII. Occupational Disease vis-à-vis Economic Standing

Occupational Disease: Cancer of the Philippines Business Sector

Another fatal occupational disease worthy of attention is tuberculosis (TB), also the sixth leading cause of mortality among Filipinos. Surveys show that it frequently appears on retired factory workers, especially the ones from industries utilizing chemical in production and wood works. However, its most prominent link is to cigarette smoking, both active and passive. On this ground, proving origin from the workplace is highly contestable.

Despite the obscurity on the basis of identifying TB as common occupational disease in the Philippines, international data on the top causes of mortality collected by the World Health Organization (WHO) show it as a prevalent reason for death only among low- and medium- income countries. It does not appear in high-income countries. According to The World Bank, the Philippines is classified as a lower-middle-income country.

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TB is the seventh top killer disease among low-income countries. It is sixth in the Philippines, also a low-income economy. This shows that there is consistency among classified countries.

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As the income level of the countries moves up, the record of TB-related deaths also goes down.

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Among the high-income countries or first world countries, TB is not a top killer disease. These countries include the following:

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It is worth adding that the countries with less recorded TB-related deaths also have more teeth when it comes to Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) standardization as compared to the Philippines.

The economic standing of countries according to salary does not necessarily correlate with the type of disease, occupational or not. It is noticeable, though, that the countries having generally higher cases of TB mortality are the ones with more menial jobs on industries employing manual laborers.

In the Philippines alone, where many TB patients link their disease to work environment, there is an apparent trend in the social category of victims, significant majority belonging to wage earners.

On the other hand, the first world countries have fewer incidents, insufficient to place it on the top list. It can be deduced without finality that the type of work environment and nature of work in these countries affect the end result of their mortality rate in accordance to cause. Likewise, these richer countries have unquestionably better facilities, working conditions and better practices and standards of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). Their guidelines are more likely seen as applied rules than theoretical, having more research and stricter guidelines on OSH regulation as mandated by laws.