The Operations Manager of the African Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Partnership ACHAP) in Francistown, Chris Batsalelwang, has encouraged different organizations to observe the wellness of employees to prevent silent killer diseases which are becoming a high concern.
Speaking during the Wellness Day conducted by the Tati Nickel Mining Company (TNMC) at Matsiloje Village last week, Batsalelwang said that employee wellbeing should be treated as first priority in order to maintain a health workforce and to also foster production.
“When companies, businesses and organizations recruit employees, they need to define their Human Resource policies at point of induction to employees into the organization and explain all important expectations, especially in situations where wellness policies are non-existent,” he said.
He added that the workplace is a very significant social institution where more than a third of an average employee’s life is spent and where most of acquaintances are made.
Batsalelwang said that naturally the workplace becomes a place where such important health issues such as HIV/Aids, Hyper tension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases could be creatively addressed.
“The workplace also presents an opportunity of using holistic approaches that seek to address all health-related challenges be it stress, being overweight, unhealthy diet, harmful use of alcohol and diminishing work performance,” he said.
Batsalelwang said that silent killer diseases are not only a health problem but a development challenge as they force people into poverty due to catastrophic expenditures for treatment.
He said that eliminating major risks could prevent most of these silent killer diseases. He added that companies need to take heed of the fact that employees might be affected by silent diseases which then calls for certain wellness practices to be conceived and inculcated into the workplace culture.
“Individuals must also collectively appreciate that all we do, be it at household level or at leisure time, the consequences of our actions will obviously emerge once we go back to our workplaces,” he added.
The Wellness Day at Matsiloje was a joint initiative between the Tati Nickel Mining Company and the North East District Council.
The objective  of the event was to increase awareness on silent killer diseases, to sensitize communities on regular checkups and to share information on general  issues relating to the promotion of wellness.
The event was held under the theme “Health for All” and the idea behind the theme was to foster ownership on matters pertaining to health.
Testing centers for different diseases were also in place.
