Olamgroupcom 45 helping to deliver good health

olamgroup.com 45

Helping to deliver good health
and wellbeing in Olam operations
and rural communities
Life expectancy in developing countries
remains low, compounded by poor
nutrition and lack of access to
healthcare. This is not just
unacceptable for the affected
individuals and their families, but has
a direct economic cost for the
individual and the country.
In 2016, we continued to roll out the
Olam Healthy Living Campaign.
Teams in numerous countries held
sensitisation sessions on how to
prevent malaria, diarrhoea and other
common diseases. World Malaria Day
on 25 April was a focus of activity, and
by the end of the year we had reached
104,000 people in Africa with
sensitisation, screening and treatments:
•
Republic of Congo Wood Products
team, Congolaise Industrielle des
Bois, distributed treated mosquito
nets to personnel
•
Côte d’Ivoire Cocoa and Tanzania
Coffee distributed nets to cocoa
cooperatives and their communities
•
Ghana Cocoa donated malaria
treatment drugs to local
health services.
At our own large-scale palm and
rubber plantations in Gabon, we have
built modern, well-equipped clinics
(staffed by a permanent medical team)
providing free healthcare to over
6,500 employees.
Ensuring access to safe water
and sanitation
Olam is addressing water, sanitation
and hygiene (WASH) access for
employees in the workplace,
particularly in plantations in highly rural
emerging economies. Discussions
with other agri-business and forestry
companies within the World Business
Council for Sustainable Development
(WBCSD) uncovered the need for
further sector-specific WASH guidance
in agricultural settings.
To support the development of initial
guidance and explore opportunities for
best practice development, a member
of the WBCSD’s water team undertook
a 1-week learning mission to Olam’s
palm oil plantations in Gabon in
June 2016.
The plantations employ more than
6,500 people, primarily from rural
villages which have no running water.
A baseline assessment was conducted
in collaboration with local staff,
mapping WASH provisions already put
in place, and identifying action points.
During the mission, it was revealed that
a large part of absenteeism was
attributed to water-related and
water-borne diseases.
The action points are being developed
into a work plan for implementation
during 2017, which will provide
additional focus on sanitation provision,
along with employee awareness-raising
on hydration and heat stress.
Encouraging employees to put their
health first
Our focus on health is not just for rural
communities. Increasingly, we see the
impacts of poor nutrition and sedentary
lifestyles across both developed and
developing nations.
In the USA, our team embraced the
2016 World Health Day theme of Beat
Diabetes, inviting a nutritionist to the
office to speak about diabetes,
launching a walking club, and hosting
a ‘Hidden Sugar Demo’ unveiling the
high sugar levels in the most commonly
consumed foods.