MBCH Chairperson Sydney Chikoti, who was speaking over the weekend at the organization's annual general conference in Mangochi, said in their 2022-2027 strategic plan, they want to reach to more employers who are potential members to join them and move together in safeguarding the wellness of employees.
“In the new strategy, the emphasis is that while we are maintaining concentration on HIV and AIDS issues, but also we want to target wellness in the workplaces, that has to look at the human capital in more general way than just HIV alone,” said Chikoti.
He said employers have to invest in preventive measures of some non-communicable diseases, some caused by eating habits, life styles or behaviors that if employers provide some remedies can be avoided.
Principle secretary in the ministry of labour Wezi Kayira also appealed to employees in the private sector to make sure that they have clear strategies on emerging health issues, saying Covid-19 exposed gaps on other equally areas of focus when it comes to employee’s health.
“As the private sector, the engine of economic growth, they need to have workers who are healthy and productive, so as statistics shows that HIV and Aids prevalence rate has significantly dropped in work places, there are other emerging issues to deal with,” said Kayira.
Ministry of health, recently described non-Communicable Diseases as an economical problem, that needs urgent attention as over 60 percent of people burden with NCDs are those under the age of 40, which is also a productive age.
During the AGM, members also elected a new board of trustees for the coming three years starting from January 2023, where the Agriculture and Plantations Sector will be headed by Alliance One, FDH Bank leads Banking and Finance Sector and Airtel Malawi leads the Communication and Telecoms Sector.
The Leisure, Hotels and Services Sector will be headed by MASM, Manufacturing Sector by Castel Malawi, while the parastatal sector by EGENCO and private hospitals and clinics sector will be led Partners in Health.
the theme for this year’s annual general meeting is Health Private Sector, A Catalyst For Malawi 2063 Agenda.
