A study has shown that as many as 745,000 people died from stroke and heart disease associated with long working hours in 2016. That was a normal year and there was no pandemic in that year. Its an increase of nearly 30% from the year 2000.
"Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard," says the study. The WHO and the International Labour Organization joint study says that most victims (72%) were men and were middle-aged or older. Often, the deaths occurred much later in life, sometimes decades later than the shifts worked.
The people living in Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific region - a WHO-defined region which includes China, Japan and Australia - were the most affected. India is not among this defined region. However, there is greater risk now amid huge surge in deadly corona pandemic in india.
Drawing data from 194 countries, the study says that working 55 hours or more a week is associated with a 35% higher risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease compared with a 35-40 hour working week.
The study covered the period 2000-2016. As such as such it excludes corona era. However, WHO officials warn the surge in remote working and the global economic slowdown resulting from the corona virus emergency may have increased the risks.
"The pandemic is accelerating developments that could feed the trend towards increased working time, estimating that at least 9% of people work long hours", says WHO.
The study suggests capping hours as it would be beneficial for employers since that has been shown to increase worker productivity.
The study is more alarming as new findings say Covid airborne after scientists and authorities both agree on this fact. The new acceptance, by the World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, comes with concrete implications: Scientists are calling for ventilation systems to be overhauled like public water supplies were in the 1800s after fetid pipes were found to harbor cholera.
"Cleaner indoor air won't just fight the pandemic, it will minimize the risk of catching flu and other respiratory infections that cost the U.S. more than $50 billion a year, researchers said in a study . Avoiding these germs and their associated sickness and productivity losses would, therefore, offset the cost of upgrading ventilation and filtration in buildings.
The study's authors, comprising 39 scientists from 14 countries, say infections can be prevented by improving indoor ventilation systems. They want the WHO to extend its indoor air quality guidelines to cover airborne pathogens, and for building ventilation standards to include higher airflow, filtration and disinfection rates, and monitors that enable the public to gauge the quality of the air they're breathing.
As there are new and new findings on deadly corona every now and then , we need to wait and watch till some conclusive solutions are found. There is no need to panic.
(Chander Sharma)
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