OREANDA-NEWS. November 28, 2012. Qatar Petroleum’s Medical Services Department, in partnership with the HSE Department of Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC), has recently launched  a major health promotion program to ensure the well-being of the hundreds of workers based in Ras Laffan, reported the press-centre of QP.

The program is consistent with the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO), which defines health promotion as “the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve, their health.” The Geneva-based organization explains that health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. The WHO thus stressed that health promotion is not just the responsibility of the health sector, but goes beyond healthy lifestyles to well-being.

In line with this, the health promotion program in Ras Laffan is specifically tailored for a multilingual workforce, with the presentations delivered in English, Arabic, Hindi and Urdu. These are meant to ensure their understanding of various health topics, including hypertension, diabetes, high blood cholesterol, as well as proper hand washing and personal hygiene. As part of the program, the workers are also given an introduction to cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) followed by hands-on training on CPR.

The program was officially launched on October 19 at the RLIC Camp 1 area, and it was well-received by the attendees who all gave a positive feedback on the value of the program. It is scheduled to be held again on November 23 and December 28 this year to benefit as many workers as possible.

The program is supported by Mr. Abdulaziz Jassim Mohd Al-Muftah, Director of Industrial Cities; Dr. Mahmood Abdulrahman Al-Jaidah, Manager for Medical Services; and Mr. Leon Van Der Heyde, Manager for Health, Safety & Environment at RLIC.
 
The health promotion program conforms to the WHO’s call to: (1) Advocate -- Good health is a major resource for social, economic and personal development and an important dimension of quality of life;  (2) Enable -- Health promotion focuses on achieving equity in health; and (3) Mediate -- Health promotion demands coordinated action by all sectors of society.