Standard Bank, parent company of Stanbic Bank Ghana, has won the prestigious 2008 AfriCom.Net annual award for Excellence in HIV and AIDS Communication in Africa.

The award recognises the work the Bank’s “Wellness Champions” have done in HIV/ AIDS training, raising awareness and offering HIV/ AIDS advisory support to staff and the broader community.

“We are thrilled to receive this award” says Kitili Mbathi, Standard Bank Group: Regional Managing Director, East Africa.
 
“It is appropriate recognition of how the bank’s proactive education, awareness and disease management programme on HIV/ AIDS is beginning to make a real difference both for our own staff and also in the lives of our people in the communities in which we operate.
 
It is important to us to make a meaningful contribution to each environment in which we operate and we are honoured to be recognised as doing just that - for our people and our customers.”

The Wellness Champions programme is part of the Groups comprehensive HIV/ AIDS workplace programme, which in turn is fully integrated into the broader employee health and wellness initiative.

Wellness Champions are volunteer peer educators, who are passionate about fighting the scourge of HIV/AIDS and building a culture of health and wellbeing in the bank and the broader community.

After completing a specially designed training course, they take on the role of peer educators on any health or wellness issue from HIV/AIDS, to breast cancer, diabetes and even sexual dysfunction.

“The focus on wellness reminds people that HIV/AIDS is a manageable disease, and with appropriate knowledge, proactive management and treatment, it is possible to live with the disease and remain well.
 
The same message pertains to other lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes,” says Mbathi.

There are over 700 Wellness Champions across the African continent who provide education and support to more than 40 000 work colleagues and also to the banks’ customers and the broader community – schools, church groups and community organisations.

Beauty Zondi, Manager: Standard Bank Group Health and Wellness, says, “This best-practice programme is the culmination of over seven years of work, driven by the Group’s corporate health department and is concerned with assessing and addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis in all our African operations as part of our commitment to the well-being of our employees.”

The prevention and management strategy of the programme is targeted at all employees.
 
Staff also have access to a 24/7 telephonic and online support known as the Independent Counselling and Advisory Service (ICAS) in South Africa and as e-Care on the rest of the continent.
 
ICAS / e-Care provide free, confidential counselling and support services to employees. The service is also available to employees partners and immediate families.

“Recognition and use of ICAS / e-Care is increasing as our people become more comfortable with the bank’s holistic wellness programme,” says Zondi.

Each year, Standard Bank spends about 60 million andrans about one millon dollars a year on its wellness programme encompassing HIV/AIDS initiatives across its African footprint.

“As a major employer across the continent, we are extremely aware of the devastating impact that the HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis pandemics have.
 
However, in conjunction with our national programmes, Standard Bank is indeed committed to dealing with these pandemics head on.

The efforts of our Wellness Champions are critical to the success of both Standard Bank’s internal and external engagement programmes which are geared toward mitigating the impact of these diseases,” says Mbathi, “We are therefore inspired by their commitment and proud of their involvement in this fight.”

Rooted in Africa and with strategic representation in key sub-Saharan markets, the Standard Bank Group is a regional banking force with a global sweep.
 
The group delivers its services in 18 African countries and extends to 21 countries outside of Africa with an emerging market focus, including the key financial centres of Europe, the United States and Asia.

Key components of Standard Bank’s award-winning HIV/AIDS programme include the internal health and wellness programme; the wellness champions which are staff volunteer peer educators; the external independent counselling and advisory services known as ICAS; medical aid;
 
Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT); health risk assessments; alignment of HIV/Aids issues with company policies – in particular the life-threatening disease policy and the total and temporary incapacity (TTI) benefit; communication and education (internal and external); and strategic business alliances.