The World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) held an intercountry workshop on primary health care and basic occupational health services: challenges and opportunities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt 12–14 July 2005. The main objectives of the meeting were to:

• review, share and document accumulated experiences in integrating occupational health services in primary health care systems at country level;
• identify challenges and suggest best approaches and mechanisms for establishing basic occupational health services at country level; and
• develop a minimum data set of information and indicators used for planning, monitoring and evaluating the performance of basic occupational health services at regional and country level.