Why Occupational Health Matters

Work shapes health, and health shapes the capacity to work — yet occupational health remains one of the most under-resourced areas of public health worldwide. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), nearly 3 million workers die every year from work-related accidents and diseases, and an estimated 395 million more suffer non-fatal injuries at work. Many of these deaths — around 2.6 million annually — are attributable to work-related diseases rather than accidents, a burden that is frequently under-recognised and under-reported, particularly where occupational health services and surveillance systems are limited.

This burden falls disproportionately on developing countries, where large informal-sector workforces, rapid industrialisation, limited access to occupational health services, and gaps in legislation and enforcement leave millions of workers without adequate protection. As digitalisation, an ageing global workforce, climate change, and evolving forms of work reshape the world of work, the need for context-appropriate, evidence-based occupational medicine has never been more urgent. Investing in occupational health is not only a matter of protecting individual workers — it is a matter of safeguarding productivity, social protection systems, and sustainable development.

It is precisely this gap between global knowledge and local practice that the 2027 conference seeks to address, bringing together the international expertise of ICOH-SCOM with the local realities of Türkiye and other developing countries under the theme:

“Occupational Medicine in Practice: Challenges & Solutions in Developing Countries”