Corporate Wellness BlogCorporate wellness and employee wellness blog

Corporate Wellness Initiatives in Prevention of NCD’s

The 61st annual World Health Assembly is taking place this week in Geneva, Switzerland and at this assembly; the World Health Organization (WHO) is presenting its report titled “Preventing Non-communicable Diseases (NCD) in the Workplace through Diet and Physical Activity.”

The report calls for Corporate Wellness Initiatives to be promoted and implemented worldwide.

Importance of Corporate Wellness Initiatives

The report states that NCD related deaths have surpassed transferable disease related deaths and have become the leading global killers. Examples of NCD’s are heart disease, diabetes and stroke. In 2005, 60% of worldwide projected deaths were caused by non-communicable diseases. They are predicting that this health trend will continue through at least 2030.

Unhealthy diets, excessive caloric intake, lack of physical activity and tobacco use are the major risk factors in the cause of NCD’s. Now more than ever, the understanding of the importance of health and wellness is crucial.

Corporate Wellness Initiatives are Effective Tools

The report states that Corporate Wellness Initiatives are found to be effective in improving health-related risk factors, such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes. The report also states that Corporate Wellness Initiatives will improve the health of staff members, improve the corporate image, improve staff member morale, reduce staff member absences and sick leave, increase staff member productivity, and reduce corporate health care expenses.

Corporate Wellness Initiatives Monitoring

Finally, the report mentions that to have a successful Corporate Wellness Program, monitoring and evaluation through health risk assessments and health outcomes are essential and should be included in the Corporate Wellness Program implementation. The evaluations ensure that the Corporate Wellness Program developed meets the proper needs of the staff members. Workers should be reevaluated on an on-going basis to make sure the Corporate Wellness Program is still working, or to see if there are any adjustments that need to be made.