Analysis on health-related issues of Chinese overseas workers from the perspective of global health
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Abstract
With the widened development of globalized economy, China has launched "Going-Out" Strategy and "Belt and Road" Initiative to promote the flow of domestic labor force to the rest of the world driven by the concept of building a community with shared future for mankind. Data from the Ministry of Commerce show that China's foreign labor cooperation has reached a considerable scale, with an average annual registered dispatch of 521 000 workers from 2013 to 2018, and nearly a million workers staying abroad at the end of each year. They were distributed in more than 190 countries and regions around the world, mainly in Asia and Africa. Most of them were engaged in low-end labor-intensive industries such as construction, manufacturing, transportation, and so on. This paper intended to explore the main health issues of Chinese workers abroad and the cross-border health factors from the perspective of global occupational health. The reviewed studies summarized that the health of transnational workers is affected by their language ability, cultural differences, forms of labor export, occupational exposure to health hazards in the workplace, natural environment, political and legal environment, the accessibility of medical services, etc., which elevate the risks of psychological diseases, occupational injuries and deaths, occupational-related diseases, infectious diseases, and even personal injuries. Therefore, it is suggested that cross-border, multi-disciplinary, and multi-sectoral cooperation should be adopted to ensure that transnational workers have access to basic occupational safety and health services on the basis of solving problems such as employment, language and cultural barriers, and personal safety, so as to improve their wellness.
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