CHS Assistant Professor of Public Health Dr Fahad Hanna recently gave a seminar on “The need for workplace health promotion: approaches and models for implementation”.
The seminar, which engaged over 40 students, faculty and staff from QU Health colleges, aligns with the Luxembourg Declaration 1997 that defines workplace health promotion (WHP) as the combined efforts of employers, employees and society to improve the health and well-being of people at work. It aimed to raise the community awareness on the epidemiological, demographic, economic and health transition occurring in Qatar.
Dr Fahad Hanna noted that health promotion is a key strategy in improving health of a population. He explained that a coordinated approach to workplace health promotion leads to a planned and comprehensive set of programs, policies, benefits, and environmental supports designed to meet the health and safety needs of all employees.
He stressed the importance of having sustainable programs within the worksite to prevent chronic diseases such as hypertension. He said: “Worksite interventions can include a wide variety of health promotion activities because employees spend a large portion of their daily (waking) hours at work and eat a large percentage of their food there. Cost effective interventions include educating employees by conducting regular health promotion activities, screening them for behavioral and underlying risk factors, such as hypertension, diabetes and other chronic disease, offering incentive programs to walk/exercise and implement healthy policies within the worksite.”
Commenting on the seminar, CHS Dean and Biomedical Research Center (BRC) Director Dr Asma Al-Thani said: “This seminar is one of the College’s activities that demonstrate its efforts to uplift its staff and students academically and to engage them on issues that are of the interest of the wider community. The College is keen to invest in programs that support active and healthy lifestyles within Qatar’s community, and providing the ultimate support to the country’s health care sector is part of our mission, which covers all the residents in Qatar in general and employees in particular.”