Field entry, published 2026-11-03, updated 2026-11-03. Group: Health occupations across ISCO-08

How are traditional medicine practitioners treated in ISCO-08?

Traditional medicine practitioners are treated in ISCO-08 in the same task based way as other health practitioners, rather than being given a separate major group of their own. In general terms, practitioners whose work involves assessing patients, diagnosing within a traditional or complementary system, planning treatment, and taking professional responsibility sit with health professionals in Major Group 2, while practitioners whose work involves more defined traditional or complementary care tasks within a narrower scope sit with health associate professionals in Major Group 3. The tradition or system does not by itself decide the level. The tasks, their complexity, and the autonomy involved do.

Why does ISCO-08 not create a separate traditional medicine major group?

ISCO-08 major groups are built on broad task and skill patterns, not on cultural origin, philosophy, or historical tradition. Creating a separate major group for traditional medicine would mix together practitioners doing very different work, from professional diagnosis and treatment planning to defined practical therapies, simply because their approaches share a traditional label. That mixing would hide the skill and task distinctions that the classification exists to show, and it would make comparisons with other health practitioners harder. By placing traditional practitioners within the existing professional and associate professional areas, ISCO-08 keeps the focus on what practitioners do, how complex that work is, and how much independent judgement it involves, while still recognising traditional and complementary practice as health work.

What work characterises traditional and complementary practice in general terms?

Traditional and complementary practice in general terms includes assessing a person’s condition according to a traditional system, discussing health history and symptoms, planning a course of traditional treatment, applying traditional therapies, giving advice on lifestyle, diet, or self care within that system, monitoring response, and referring onward when needed. Systems and therapies vary enormously across regions, and ISCO-08 does not endorse or evaluate any system. It classifies the occupation by the work performed. A practitioner who mainly gives defined massages or similar practical treatments presents a different task bundle from a practitioner who mainly assesses, diagnoses within a system, and plans a full course of treatment, even if both describe their work as traditional. That bundle difference, not the label, drives the broad level.

How do professional and associate levels apply here?

Professional level traditional practice in general terms involves broader assessment, diagnosis within the system, treatment planning, and responsibility for the course of care. Associate level traditional practice in general terms involves more defined tasks, such as carrying out particular therapies, supporting a treatment plan, and providing routine care within guidance. Training, licensing, and recognition vary widely between countries, and some systems are formally regulated while others are not. ISCO-08 does not use regulation alone as the deciding factor. It asks about duties, complexity, and autonomy, so a regulated title does not automatically place a practitioner at professional level, and an unregulated title does not automatically place a practitioner at associate level. The duties remain the anchor.

What boundaries matter most for traditional practitioners?

Several boundaries need care. One boundary separates professional traditional practitioners from associate traditional practitioners, as described above. Another separates traditional practitioners from other health professionals, such as doctors, physiotherapists, or pharmacists, whose centres are conventional diagnosis and treatment, movement rehabilitation, or medicines. A practitioner may use elements from more than one tradition, or combine traditional practice with conventional health work, and in such blended roles the dominant bundle matters. A further boundary separates traditional practitioners from personal service workers who offer relaxation or beauty treatments without a health assessment and treatment purpose. Purpose and task bundle matter there too, since a similar physical technique can serve different occupational purposes in different contexts.

How should readers use the ILO text for traditional practice?

Readers should open the ILO ISCO-08 structure and read the health professional and health associate professional descriptions that mention traditional and complementary medicine, comparing assessment, planning, and autonomy wording at each level. They should be wary of assuming that a familiar traditional title maps neatly to one level everywhere, because titles, scopes, and training differ sharply across countries. This guide lists no detailed codes, offers no personal finder, and makes no determination about any reader, because a careful placement would require a full account of main duties and a direct match against the ILO descriptions. Its purpose is to correct a common expectation: traditional medicine is visible in ISCO-08, but it is visible through task and skill, inside the health professional and associate structure, rather than through a separate major group.

Sources checked

1. ILO: ISCO-08

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