Participation of ICOH at the 79 th World Health Assembly, held in Geneva on 18-23 May 2026

Send this page Print Increase font Decrease font
The ICOH Secretary-General Dr Diana Gagliardi attended the World Health Assembly from 18 to 23 May 2026 and delivered an ICOH statement.

The ICOH statement emphasized the role of occupational health as fundamental to public health, social justice, sustainable development, and economic resilience.

With this statement, ICOH calls for renewed leadership of WHO in occupational health and stands ready to support WHO in providing, protecting, and promoting health and work ability through Universal Coverage of Occupational Health Services (Read the statement here).

In addition, together with other Non-State Actors (NSAs), ICOH co-signed two Constituency Statements under the Agenda Item 12.1 - Follow-up to the Political Declaration on the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases:

  • the Constituency statement delivered by the International Society of Nephrology, which recognises occupational risk factors among those linked to NCDs (e.g. cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, kidney diseases, and chronic respiratory conditions) and calls on Member States to scale up prevention and early detection through primary care, public health, and occupational health interventions (Read the statement here).

  • the Constituency statement delivered by the International Federation on Aging which highlights the importance of embedding healthy ageing within global efforts to prevent and control noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), calling for stronger alignment between NCD strategies and systems for long-term care, dementia, disability, gender, and social protection across the life course, alongside age-inclusive targets, age-disaggregated data, and strengthened prevention, and continuum of care (Read the statement here).

Occupational health remains a core value in protecting, providing and promoting health, especially when it is recognised that risk factors for communicable and non-communicable diseases can be occupational and that occupational health interventions can support public health in preventing diseases and promoting workers’ physical and mental health at global level.