Windhoek
Having recently changed its name from Namibia Business Coalition on AIDS (NABCOA), Healthworks Business Coalition has embarked on a strategic transformation, aimed at creating a healthy and productive workforce in Namibia through the provision of workplace wellness support services.
The new name has an intentional double connotation. Firstly, it is an organisation involved in Workplace Health, and secondly, the corporate strategy of investing in health in the workplace is one that ‘works’ from a business perspective. The retention of ‘Business Coalition’ in the name and logo signifies continuity in evolving from NABCOA to Healthworks.
Healthworks chief executive officer Peter van Wyk says the organisation, which was created in 2003, is now shifting from the predominant focus on HIV-AIDS (under NABCOA) to an all-encompassing focus on the overall health and wellness of the country’s workforce. As such, Healthworks plans to team up with some local medical aid companies to promote workplace programmes.
“When we entered the market (2003) as NABCOA there was still a lot of stigmatisation of HIV-AIDS sufferers and as a result many people did not want their status known, which resulted in unnecessary deaths due to non-disclosure and non-treatment. Now there is some improvement, because people are willing to know their status and get treatment.
“Over the last few years we’ve seen an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, cholesterol, high blood pressure etc., which impact on lives – hence the decision to focus more on these NCDs,” says van Wyk.
Healthworks will also be looking at other public health issues, such as male circumcision and will embark on tuberculosis (TB) screening, establishing direct observation treatments (DOTS) for tuberculosis in the mining and fishing sectors, as well as continuing with testing for HIV. Regions targeted in the Coalition’s TB campaign are Khomas, Erongo, //Kharas and Otjozondjupa.
“It was appropriate that we started looking at becoming more sustainable since donors are now withdrawing from Namibia, largely due to the classification of the country as an upper-middle income nation. We are currently looking at other revenue streams to keep the Coalition going, such as introducing additional services, such as the development of health policies for companies at a fee,” said the CEO.
Some of the services that Healthworks offers at a fee include company-specific policy formulation for HIV and wellness, risk assessment surveys to determine medical risk profiling, Bophelo! Mobile Screening in the workplace for HIV, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose/blood sugar, haemoglobin, syphilis and hepatitis B.
Body Mass Index tests are also conducted by Healthworks and it provides workplace educational videos (behavioural change programmes) and other such products.
Up to now Healthworks Business Coalition has relied heavily on donor funds. As part of its growth strategy to ensure that the organisation remains self-sustainable beyond the envisaged departure of such donors, Healthworks seeks to provide increased services to a broader client base, which means an increase in the number of its members and clients.
The membership fee structure for 2015-16 is as follows:
• Founder and corporate members with more than 500 employees:
• N$30 000 per year
• Large companies with 100-500 employees: N$20 000 per year;
• Medium companies with 10-99 employees: N$10 000 per year;
• Small companies with 1-9 employees: N$5 000 per year.
These membership fees are not all-inclusive, but go a long way to cover quite a substantial array of services for enrolled companies.