Ford-AIDC-AWiSA Wellness Cluster selected as a finalist for global Business Action on Health Awards
PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa, 1 April, 2011 – The innovative workplace wellness initiative conducted by the Ford Engine Plant, in partnership with the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) and Aids Prevention and Health Promotion Workplace Programmes in Southern Africa (AWiSA), has been selected as a finalist in the Global Business Coalition (GBC) Business Action on Health Awards for 2011.
The Global Business Coalition is in its 10th year, and represents business leadership and partnerships around the world in an effort to address the important global health challenges of our time, with a special focus on HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
Despite the record number of entries for GBC’s Business Action on Health Awards for 2011, the Ford project has been selected as a finalist in the Partnership/Collective Action category. It joins a total of 38 finalists from five continents and myriad industries than span the various categories.
“Being selected as a finalist in the Business Action on Health Awards positions the pioneering Ford-AIDC-AWiSA programme amongst a select group of finalists that exemplify best-in-class private sector health and wellness initiatives,” explained Martin Weihs, the AIDC-AWiSA advisor to the project.
“It demonstrates the powerful impact of business engagement on health, and reinforces our commitment to developing HIV/AIDS awareness and sustainability in the automotive industry in the Eastern Cape, as well as the wider community and economy,” Weihs added.
All finalists now progress to a rigorous assessment phase by GBC’s external panel of expert judges, from which one winner and up to three commended companies will be chosen to be honoured at GBC’s Tenth Anniversary Conference and Dinner, on 1-2 June in New York City.
The Ford-AIDC-AWiSA Wellness Cluster was launched in 2009, and assists automotive supplier companies in responding to the HIV/AIDS pandemic by implementing comprehensive wellness workplace programmes with a special focus on HIV and AIDS.
The cluster programme has been a phenomenal success amongst its 10 existing suppliers in and around Port Elizabeth, with well over 2 000 employees having completed voluntary HIV/AIDS counselling and testing to date.
A further three Port Elizabeth automotive supplier companies have joined the wellness cluster for 2011, comprising SA Canopy, Halberg Gus and Halberg Guss Aluminium.
