Conclusion
The broad range of discussion topics evolved into a number of agreements and plans for international collaborative projects as well as individual focus points for each country. Rural health and rural population issues were found to be a relevant as a place of departure for research and intervention programs. It was generally agreed that more prevalent health problems in rural areas (such as tuberculosis, heart disease and high infant mortality rates) are due to socio-economic factors rather than to agricultural occupational exposures. Be that as it may, it was also common to all countries that very little information concerning occupational disease and injury in agriculture is officially reported since few workers are covered by insurance plans. It was also agreed that within the rural population, it would be feasible to develop collaborative projects focusing on agricultural health and safety. Four areas that were cited were occupational cancer, allergic disease (skin and respiratory), reproductive diseases, and traumatic injury.
Important long-term development areas included examining available databases for information on rural populations and the development of new and/or improved registries to provide accurate information for creating research and intervention priorities. Collaboration within country among different players—governmental and nongovernmental institutes and offices—was seen as key to understanding country-specific issues. Other key issues that were discussed include identification of funding sources, adapting successful programs from other countries, epidemiological surveillance system as a tool, using statistics, the World Health Organization and private companies (health insurance, agricultural equipment) as resources, and many other useful topics.
The final discussion focused on ways to sustain attention and induce action on the agenda that began to take shape during these two days, as follows:
- Each delegate can seek ways to bring a greater awareness of agricultural and rural, environmental health issues within their sphere of influence.
- A website will be created which will allow conference participants to share information, to invite or seek collaboration, and to promote new research or intervention programs.
- If possible, a second working conference will be planned for two years from now which can measure progress and further investigate particular research and intervention areas of interest.
The conference was sponsored by:
- The Fogarty International Center
- The National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences
- The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health of the National Institutes of Health
- The International Institute of Rural and Environmental Health in Bratislava, Slovakia
- The University of Iowa
- Pioneer Hi-Bred International, Inc. (Des Moines, Iowa and Austria)
- Novartis Seeds (Austria)
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