WORKING TOWARDS WELLNESS INITIATIVE GAINS MOMENTUM
The movement to promote health in the workplace as a means to address the proliferation of cardiovascular and other major noncommunicable diseases gained momentum at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting 21-26 January 2008 in Davos, Switzerland.
World Heart Federation Chief Executive Officer Janet Voûte moderated a two-hour private workshop entitled, “Working Towards Wellness: Health and Workforce Productivity”.
Sixty corporate, governmental and nongovernmental leaders participated. Among them were:
- Ala Alwan, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization
- Richard Bagger, Senior Vice-President, Worldwide Public Affairs and Policy, of Pfizer, Inc.
- Michael J. Critelli, Executive Chairman of Pitney Bowes, Inc.
- Julie Louise Geberding, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Adrian Gore, Chief Executive Officer of Discovery Holdings Ltd.
- Valli Moosa, Chairman of Eskom
- Indra K. Nooyi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo
- Miguel Pistana, Vice-President Global affairs of Unilever N.V.
- Kendall Powell, Chief Executive Officer of General Mills
- Stig Pramming, Managing Director, of the Oxford Health Alliance
- K. Srinath Reddy, President of the Public Health Foundation of India and Chairman of the World Heart Federation’s Foundations Advisory Board
Many of the corporate leaders added their names to the World Economic Forum’s “Call to Action on Workplace Wellness”. The Call to Action recognizes that the noncommunicable diseases account for 60% of all deaths, will account for two-thirds in the next 25 years and are growing fastest in low- and middle-income countries. It also acknowledges the abundant evidence that promoting physical activity, healthy diets and avoidance of tobacco in the workplace can cost-effectively reduce health care expenses and improve productivity. It calls on leaders to strengthen their commitment to employee wellness on a global scale.
The case for workplace wellness
“The momentum is growing because the evidence is clear that workplace wellness programmes make both health sense and economic sense,” Ms Voûte said.
Ms Voûte added, “It is important to underscore what workplace wellness is and what it is not. Workplace wellness is not corporate philanthropy. Neither is it corporate social responsibility. It is enlightened self interest. Improving the health of employees improves worker productivity and loyalty, reduces health care costs and absenteeism and increases corporate profitability.”
The increased momentum should lead to significant advancements by the time of the next World Economic Forum annual meeting in January 2009.
“We want to measure the impact of our work with more companies committed, more employees being reached and with best practices being used more and more effectively,” Ms Voûte said.
World Heart Federation’s leadership role
The World Heart Federation has a major leadership role in the World Economic Forum’s Working Towards Wellness initiative. Ms Voûte is a member of the initiative’s Steering Board. Dr Reddy and Scientific Advisory Board Chairman Sidney Smith are members of the initiative’s Advisory Board.
India a case in point
The workshop participants discussed the recent joint report of the World Economic Forum and the World Health Organization entitled “Preventing Noncommunicable Diseases in the Workplace through Diet and Physical Activity”. Using case studies and other evidence, the report describes the connection between health and productivity in the workplace.
One of the case studies described a surveillance project of Indian industrial workers, high percentages of whom had hypertension or diabetes or were overweight – all important risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
The workers were counselled to increase their physical activity and to improve their diets. After two years, there were significant reductions in diastolic blood pressure, blood glucose and blood cholesterol.
“India is the poster child for the growth of noncommunicable diseases in economically developing economies,” said Dr Reddy, who co-moderated an interactive session of the workshop about how businesses can measure the benefits of workplace wellness programmes. “Heart disease is the number one killer throughout India. The World Health Organization estimated that in 2000 India lost 9.2 million potentially productive years of life in the 35-64 year age group through cardiovascular deaths. By 2030, [the estimate is] 18 million potentially productive years of life lost. For the sake of their own bottom lines, businesses have to be part of the solution. There’s no reason not to act.”
The workshop’s participants discussed two other reports by the World Economic Forum: “Working Towards Wellness: Practical Steps for CEOs” and “Working Towards Wellness: Global Examples”. The latter was prepared in cooperation with the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. In addition, the participants discussed a report about nutrition and wellness by the consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Future workshops will be held in Cancun, Mexico, on 14 April, Cape Town, South Africa in June and New Delhi, India, in November.
To learn more about World Heart Federation’s advocacy for workplace wellness visit: http://www.world-heart-federation.org/what-we-do/workplace-wellness/
To read “Preventing Noncommunicable Diseases in the Workplace through Diet and Physical Activity” visit: http://www.weforum.org/documents/gov/gov08/fbrc/WHOWEF.pdf
To read “Working Towards Wellness: Practical Steps for CEOs” visit:
http://www.weforum.org/documents/gov/gov08/fbrc/PracticalSteps.pdf
