Defense Health Care: DOD Needs to Clarify Policies Related to Occupational and Environmental Health Surveillance and Monitor Risk Mitigation Activities

Abstract

Since the end of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, servicemembers and veterans reports of unexplained illnesses that they attributed to service-related occupational and environmental exposures have led to increasing interest in health effects related to military deployments. 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 during deployments that can be used to help prevent, treat, or control disease or injury. Despite this effort, attempts to research and investigate whether post-deployment health conditions are the result of military service continue to be hindered by a lack of sufficient OEHS data. This is of particular concern because, as we previously reported in 2010, some returning servicemembers and veterans have health concerns they believe are related to their deployment, such as conditions related to smoke inhalation from open-air burn pits used for waste disposal on military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan.1 In an effort to better ascertain and monitor the possible health effects related to burn pits, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) established the Airborne Hazards and Open Burn Pit Registry in June 2014 that allows eligible servicemembers and veterans to document their exposures and report their health concerns.2 Establishing a service connection for health conditions is important because federal law generally entitles veterans with service-connected disabilities to VA s disability compensation benefits.3 However, as we have previously reported, establishing a relationship between occupational and environmental exposures and health issues can be difficult.4

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 2015
Accession Number
ADA620008

Entities

People

  • Amy Andresen
  • Bonnie Anderson
  • Danielle Bernstein
  • Debra A. Draper
  • Jacquelyn Hamilton
  • Jeffrey Mayhew
  • Jennie Apter
  • Lakendra Beard
  • Muriel Brown

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Congress
  • Data Storage Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Department Of Veterans Affairs
  • Environmental Exposure
  • Environmental Health
  • Environmental Protection
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Information Systems
  • Medical Personnel
  • Organizational Structure
  • Public Health
  • United States Central Command
  • United States Government
  • Waste Management

Readers

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