Defense Health Care: Occupational and Environmental Health Surveillance Conducted During Deployments Needs Improvement

Abstract

Following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, research and investigations into the causes of servicemembers unexplained illnesses were hampered by a lack of servicemember health and deployment data, including inadequate occupational and environmental exposure data. In 1997, the Department of Defense (DOD) developed a military-wide health surveillance framework that includes occupational and environmental health surveillance (OEHS)the regular collection and reporting of occupational and environmental health hazard data by the military services. This testimony is based on GAOs report, entitled Defense Health Care: Improvements Needed in Occupational and Environmental Health Surveillance during Deployment to Address Immediate and Long-term Health Issues (GAO-05-632). The testimony presents findings about how the deployed military services have implemented DODs policies for collecting and reporting OEHS data for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and the efforts under way to use OEHS reports to address both immediate and long-term health issues of servicemembers deployed in support of OIF.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 19, 2005
Accession Number
AD1099414

Entities

People

  • Marcia G. Crosse

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Brain Injuries
  • Data Centers
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Environmental Health
  • Environmental Monitoring
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Iraqi-War
  • Medical Personnel
  • National Security
  • Physicians
  • Preventive Medicine
  • United States Government
  • Wounds And Injuries

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Medical or Health Care Field.
  • Military Mobilization and Reserve Forces Studies.