Dear colleagues,

The forthcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro (Rio+20) will discuss among other issues the policies for creating full and productive employment, decent work and green jobs. WHO has been asked to propose a set of indicators to monitor the health effects of the policies for sustainable development, including for jobs. A global consultation on health indicators for Rio+20 was held in Geneva on 17 and 18 May 2012.

Friends from the International Association of Medical Students who participated in a consultation in Geneva on this topic (17-18 May 2012) have put together a short article about health indicators for jobs on the Rio+20 Dialogues web platform. The articles in this platform get voted in order to be considered by the Rio+20. This process will go on until June 3, when the top ten recommendations that receive most support will be transferred to a public site for voting by the general public.

These recommendations, ranked by the support received inside the platform and by the votes received in the public site will be organized by the Facilitators and presented to the Panellists in the Sustainable Development Dialogues (Rio de Janeiro, 16-19 June 2012). From this set of recommendations three will be chosen per theme can take this during the Sustainable Development Dialogues and conveyed directly to the Heads of State gathering in the High-Level Segment of Rio+20.

I would like to encourage you to support the consideration of occupational health in Rio+20 by casting a vote for above mentioned submission on Jobs.

To vote, please, go to https://www.riodialogues.org. Attached are screenshots to help you in casting your vote.

In the “Request Invite” box on the right hand site enter your email address and the code shown underneath. You will receive an e-mail that you need to confirm. Then you can set up your account with Rio+20 platform.

When you finish your account set-up you will enter the Rio+20 dialogues page. On the left top of the page in the window marked by “Search teamworks” enter #health and SD and hit Enter.  You will see a number of articles. Click on article “Ensure all jobs are healthy jobs” then click on “Recommend” on the right side of the title.  You can also submit written comments.

You are mostly welcome to invite your colleagues to cast a vote and to disseminate through email and social media.

Thank you very much for your participation in the WHO global efforts and for supporting the consideration of workers’ health by the UN Conference on Sustainable Development. Also, we would very much appreciate to hear from you should you have any specific activities regarding the health of workers related to Rio+20.

Many best regards from Geneva

WHO Global Occupational Health Programme