13 Aug 2018

In this day and age of non-communicable diseases, the need to eat well, exercise and maintain general good health has never been greater.

To this end, Botswana Public Employees Union (BOPEU)’s Francistown branch on August 11 hosted a wellness event to sensitise members on the importance of healthy living. 

The day was held under the theme; BOPEU Promotes Healthy Living Within the Workforce: Now and Beyond.”

Members of BOPEU and the general public engaged in a health walk from Loja Mall to Adansonia Hotel where the day’s proceedings were held.

The guest speaker, who is the former Member of Parliament for Francistown West and medical practitioner and surgeon, Dr Habaudi Hubona commended the union for advancing the wellness of its members. 

Equally, she said the theme of the day showed that the union was committed to the continuous care of its members as stated in the last part of, ‘Now and Beyond.’

Giving a definition of good health as per the World Health Organisation (WHO), Dr Hubona explained that it not only meant an absence of disease or when one has no pain, but it also meant one had no social or even mental stress. 

“Good mental health helps workers produce good results, but productivity should also produce good results for the community that one lives in. 

Exercising regularly can help in beating mental diseases,” she said.

Dr Hubona also noted that the Botswana happiness index was not pleasing, which she said should be an indicator that many Batswana workers were not happy. 

This lack of happiness, she said, translates to severe stress, which further affects workers health.

She thus, called on employers to create a conducive environment for employees, saying some companies in Asian countries had gym facilities for their employees and even recreational areas for those employees’ children.

She called on government to change its health strategy of curative to preventative, through dissemination of information on healthy living to prevent diseases like cancer, heart problems and high-blood among others.

The BOPEU President, Ms Masego Mogwera encouraged the union members to vigorously pursue healthy lifestyles to avoid contracting non-communicable diseases.

She implored her union’s Francistown branch to continue hosting similar events. 

When sharing the objective of the event, chairperson of BOPEU’s Ministry of Health and Wellness branch, Ms Ipopeng Ledimo stated that because Francistown BOPEU branch was divided into four mini-branches, they hardly ever met to host events of that nature.

“We live in times where staying in shape and living healthy should be a daily priority and this idea of meeting regularly would go a long way in reminding us that good health is a daily requirement for all of us,” Ms Ledimo said.

She said the day was important to their members as they had engaged a few of their stakeholders to share some health and life tips with them. 

She noted that even when choosing the menu for the event’s lunch, they opted for traditional foods as they are known to carry plenty of health benefits.

The wellness day’s menu included sporting activities and stakeholder presentations by Barclays Bank, Jubilee Dental Clinic, Babereki Investments, Botswana Federation of Trade Unions and Jubilee Clinic’s Department of Mental Health. ENDS