Within the framework of the OIC Occupational Safety and Health Network (OIC-OSHNET) and in line with the OIC-OSHNET Work Plan 2021-2022, the Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health (DGOSH) at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Türkiye, in its capacity as the Secretariat of the OIC-OSHNET, organised a Training Course on “Occupational Zoonoses” on 21-22 June 2022 through an online video conferencing platform. SESRIC, in its capacity as the OIC Technical Coordinator of the OIC-OSHNET, provided facilitation and necessary technical support for the organisation of the training.

The training course was provided by competent experts from the Directorate General of Occupational Safety and Health (DGOSH) at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Türkiye as well as other prominent international experts in the field for the benefit of 73 participants from the National OSH Authorities and relevant national institutions of 23 OIC Member Countries.

The training course aimed to provide a general overview of the occurrence and transmission of zoonotic diseases, with a particular emphasis on zoonotic diseases in the workplace and explain why they present a health and safety concern for specific occupations. In addition, the training presented the common occupational zoonoses and the biological agents responsible for causing disease, methods of transmission, incidence, and potential health effects. It also discussed the occupations and work-based activities that present an increased risk of zoonotic infections as well as key preventative measures that can be taken to reduce these risks.

In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Selçuk Yaşar, Head of the International Cooperation Unit at the DGOSH of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security of the Republic of Türkiye, stated that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that the whole world has gone through had increased the awareness of zoonotic diseases, and therefore occupational zoonoses had become a trending topic at the international level. Mr. Yaşar also briefed the participants on the future Network activities, especially the ones that will be implemented by the OIC-OSHNET Secretariat within the scope of the Work Plan of the Network. He concluded his remarks by thanking SESRIC and the trainers for their valuable contribution to the training course.

In his speech, Mr. Onur Çağlar, Director of Training and Technical Cooperation Department at SESRIC, pointed out that numerous occupational zoonotic diseases exist in the world, some of which do pose a considerable health danger to employees and workers in specific occupations. Mr. Çağlar also added that coping with these occupational zoonotic diseases represents a serious challenge for many countries, including the OIC Member Countries, and emphasized the importance of collective and timely response to fight against zoonotic diseases. He concluded his remarks by thanking the DGOSH of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the Republic of Türkiye for their continuous support to the Network and its activities.

The OIC-OSHNET was launched in 2011 in order to establish closer cooperation among the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Institutions of the OIC Member Countries through sharing knowledge, experience and best practices. SESRIC assumes the role of the OIC Technical Coordinator of the OIC-OSHNET and carries out a specific capacity building programme on OSH, namely, Occupational Safety and Health Capacity Building Programme (OSH-CaB), to support the efforts of the OIC Member Countries in improving workplace safety and health. For more details about the Network and its activities, please visit: https://oshnet.sesric.org/index.php

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