FDI and IADR statement on Item 15.2 Well-being and health promotion
Agenda item 15.2 Well-being and health promotion
Documents A79/5 and EB158/2025/REC/1
FDI and IADR welcome the report on well‑being and health promotion and its emphasis on cross‑sectoral collaboration.
With nearly 60% of the working-age population employed1, workplaces are key settings for disease prevention and health promotion. Oral diseases affect 3.7 billion people worldwide2 and cost the global economy an estimated US$710 billion annually3. Integrating oral health into workplace well-being strategies is therefore both a public health and economic imperative.
FDI’s new Oral Health at Work report, grounded in country experiences, identifies practical pathways to translate policy into action through collaboration across health, labour, and occupational systems.
We call on Member States to:
- Prioritize multisectoral collaboration for health promotion and well-being.
- Engage employers and workplaces in integrated health promotion initiatives inclusive of oral health.
- Invest in research and programmes to identify scalable models for health promotion and well-being.
1 World Bank Open Data. Available from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.EMP.TOTL.SP.ZS [Accessed 25 April 2026].
2 World Health Organization. Oral health. 2025. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/oral-health [Accessed 25 April 2026].
3 World Economic Forum. The Economic Rationale for a Global Commitment to Invest in Oral Health. Geneva: World Economic Forum; 2024.