The 23rd Asian Congress on Occupational Health 2023 in EXCO Daegu, Korea from November 22-25, 2023, with the theme “Healthy Work, Worthy Worker: From Basic Rights to the Sustainable Future”. The AOEMM sent a big contingent to the congress with two main objectives, to highlight the occupational health work and achievement by our members, and also to bid for the 24th Asia Congress on Occupational Health in the year 2026.
The contingent was led by Dr Abu Hasan Samad the President of AOEMM. The other members included Dr Abed Onn, Vice-President, Dr Sathya Subramaniam, Honorary Secretary, Professor Dr Victor Hoe, Censor in Chief, Dr Edwin Ho, council member, Prof Dr Retneswari Masilamani, council member, Professor Dr KG Rampal, Chairman of the Board of Examiner, Dr Jaseema Begum, member, and Ms Hema Latha Sivalingam and Ms Sharifah Shahidah Binti Syed Ahmad (Sherry), executive.
As part of the effort for the bid for ACOH2026, the AOEMM setup a booth to promote the bid. The setting of the booth was supported by the Sarawak Convention Bureau as the proposed venue for the ACOH2026 will be at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) in Sarawak. We brought many ‘gifts’ and gimmick for the booth. The highlight was Mr Brooke, the Orang Utan puppet which travelled all the way from Kuching. The booth was manned by our two very capable executives, Ms Hema and Ms Sherry and supported by Donny Tan, Senior Business Development Manager – Conventions and Exhibitions Business Events Sarawak.
The AOEMM organised the Symposium on “Building a Resilient and Supportive Workplace: Strategies for Prioritizing Mental Health” which highlighted the importance of mental health at work and provided some measure that could be taken by employers to manage and improve mental health at the workplace.
Besides the Symposium, the members also were chaired for the plenary and oral sessions, and presented oral papers. Dr Abu Hasan Samad was the Chair of the Plenary Sessions. Prof Dr Victor Hoe was the Chair for the Occupational Health Nursing and Burden of Disease Oral Sessions. Prof KG Rampal was the Chair for Organ-specific Diseases at Workplace Oral Sessions. Prof Dr Retneswari presented the paper on “Work-related musculoskeletal disorders and its associated factors among retail shop employees”.
Dr Abu Hasan the President of AOEMM also attended the meeting of the Asian Association for Occupational and Environmental Health as representative for Malaysia. The other country representative that attended the meeting included India, Indonesia, Japan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia. During the meeting, AOEMM and Malaysia was selected as the host for the 24th ACOH in 2026.
