‘Strategic healthy interventions can help in overall well-being of employees’

CHENNAI: There is a need for strategic health-based interventions at company worksites to ensure overall well-being of the employees, a recent research by the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) in association with Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre and Madras Diabetes Research Foundation (MDRF) revealed.

India's first-of-its-kind in-depth corporate worksite report titled India Works- Integrating Diabetes Prevention in Workplaces, highlighted that lifestyle modification programmes that focus on improving dietary quality, increasing physical activity levels, and promoting healthy food choices in worksite canteens help in improving an individual's health at the workplace.

The research analysed parameters like blood glucose average, waist circumference, blood pressure, blood cholesterol and weight at 11 diverse worksites in 5 states including Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. The specific interventions for workers were undertaken by healthcare experts from PHFI and MDRF (India), Emory and Harvard (USA) who designed and implemented culturally appropriate lifestyle modifications, which resulted in the changes of non-communicable diseases management at workplaces.

"Organized sector employees have the highest burden of chronic disease risk factors such as obesity, diabetes, and hypertension. There is substantial evidence that we can prevent these risk factors or control them if people have acquired these diseases already. The research demonstrates population average reduction in cardio metabolic risk factors such as weight, waist circumference, blood pressure, and HbA1c, " says Professor Dr Prabhakaran, executive director at the Centre for Chronic Disease Control.

The worksites included in the research included steel and manufacturing plants, locomotive industry, and refineries. "The worksites are great examples of how management and employees can work together to prevent disease among workers and their families by making simple, practical, and sustainable lifestyle changes which begin at their workspace. These positive changes can help reduce the future burden of diabetes and cardiovascular events which we see largely affecting our young working population, early in life due to stress and unhealthy lifestyles, " added Dr V Mohan, Chairman, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation - Dr Mohan's Diabetes Specialities Centre, Chennai.