Indian economy is growing at a greater pace compared to other countries in the world. The country can boast of home to some of the large corporate houses. The footprints of many of these companies are present in many countries. Fifty-six Indian companies have found a place in Forbes Global 2000 ranking for 2010.1 Though exact data is hard to find, around 55 to 60 million individuals are working in some of the largest corporate houses in India.

1. Healthy Corporate House Means Healthy Nation

2. Review Article
Healthy corporate house means healthy nation
Suneela Garg a
, Akash Malik b
, Ritesh Singh c,
*
a
Director Professor, Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India
b
Junior Resident, Department of Community Medicine, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India
c
Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, College of Medicine and JNM Hospital, Kalyani, Nadia, West Bengal 741235, India
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 27 September 2012
Accepted 8 May 2013
Available online 23 May 2013
Keywords:
Corporate
Health
CSR
a b s t r a c t
India is now an economic powerhouse. The country is home to some of the best global
companies. These companies provide various services to the society through corporate
social responsibility initiatives. These are their obligations toward the society in which
they function. In providing quality health care to the community and society as large many
a times companies forget about the health status of their own employees. The health
status of the employees is overlooked and companies take heath of the employees for
granted. They think that to maintain a good health is an employee concern. Nothing
concrete is provided by the companies to maintain good health of its employees. The
corporate houses need to understand that a healthy workforce is in their benefit. The
balance sheet will be healthy only if the people working for the company are healthy.
Copyright ª 2013, Indraprastha Medical Corporation Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Indian economy is growing at a greater pace compared to
other countries in the world. The country can boast of home to
some of the large corporate houses. The footprints of many of
these companies are present in many countries. Fifty-six In-
dian companies have found a place in Forbes Global 2000
ranking for 2010.1
Though exact data is hard to find, around 55
to 60 million individuals are working in some of the largest
corporate houses in India. With the liberalization of trade and
commerce in the ‘90s’, corporate sector is currently in a very
significant position to lead the economy of India in forward
direction. The corporate sector has become the engine of
economic growth of the country. However growing di-
mensions come along with greater responsibility. There is a
growing expectation that the corporate sector should
contribute in improving the quality of life of communities in
the area where they are located. The corporate sector should
understand their responsibility towardtoward the society, and
should address the issues and challenges relevant for the
betterment of the society. The phrase ‘corporate social re-
sponsibility’ or CSR as defined by the World Business Council
for Sustained Development is “the continuing commitment by
business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development
while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families
as well as of the local community and society at large”.2
Thus as clear from the above definition CSR, a company is
obligated to provide quality health care services to its em-
ployees, local community and finally to the society at large.
Many companies do meet their later two obligations quite
diligently for fear of regulatory authorities or for their genuine
love toward the society. The question that arises is have the
corporates been working toward a healthy manpower and
workforce? Is it possible for the corporates to aim toward a
healthy community or society without a healthy workforce?
This article aims to answer the above question.
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: drriteshsingh@yahoo.com (R. Singh).
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apme
a p o l l o m e d i c i n e 1 0 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 1 8 1 e1 8 4
0976-0016/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2013, Indraprastha Medical Corporation Ltd. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apme.2013.05.004

3. 2. Healthy workforce leading to healthy
society
If the workforce of a company is not fit enough how can that
company engage in CSR activities related to providing good
health to community. Globally, approximately 65% of the pop-
ulation aged over 15 years is part of some industrial workforce.3
The “economically active population” comprises all people of
either sex who supply labor for the production of goods and
services. In 2007, nearly 3.1 billion people were economically
active; this figure is estimated to exceed 3.6 billion in 2020.3
Ac-
cording to the world health report, work related risk factors are
responsible for the loss of about 30 million Disability Adjusted
Life Years (DALYs) globally.4
Out of these, the South East Asian
Region (SEAR) countries account for a loss of over 8 million
DALYs (27% of the total) and the highest regional burden of
disease are attributable to occupational risk factors. These
include occupational injuries, workplace exposure to carcino-
gens, dust, noise and ergonomic stressors. For a basic under-
standing of the root of societal responsibility to protect health
and safety of the working population, one must look at the ob-
jectives of occupational health which is “Occupational health
should aim at the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of
physical, mental and social well-being of workers inall occupations; the
prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their
working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from
risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and mainte-
nance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his
physiological and psychological capabilities. In summary: “the adap-
tation of work to man, and of each man to his job”.5
The workplace has been recognized internationally as an
appropriate setting for health promotion. The importance of
workplace health promotion was addressed in 1950 and later
updated in 1995 in a joint International Labor Organization/
World Health Organization session on occupational health.
Since this time, health promotion in the workplace has been
broadly recommended by international bodies through
numerouscharters and declarations, including the 1986 Ottawa
Charter for Health Promotion,6
the 1997 Jakarta Declaration on
Leading Health Promotion into the 21st Century7
and the 2005
Bangkok Charter for Health Promotion in a Globalized World.8
The corporates houses need to understand that the health of
an employee and the health of the society are closely related to
eachother.Unhealthyworkingconditionsandvariousindustrial
hazards towhicha workeris exposed bringshardshipnotonlyto
the workerhimselfbutalsoto hisfamily. Indeveloping countries
like ours, an industrial worker is usually the sole earner of his
family. She/he devotes a major portion of his youth working in a
‘not-so-healthy’ working atmosphere. In majority of instances s/
he is without anyhealth insurance or social security. Poor health
of workforce has economic ramifications. This is evident form
the fact that globally a loss of 4e5% of gross domestic product
(GDP) is attributable to occupational risk factors.9,10
3. Need for a targeted approach
The corporates first need to commit themselves toward the
health of each and every individual working for them. Later
when the workforce is healthy companies can venture to
improve the health of communities and society. The first step
should be the identification of the diseases common at
workplace and related risk factors. The assessment and
management of health risks at the workplace should be
improved by: defining essential interventions for prevention
and control of mechanical, physical, chemical, biological and
psychosocial risks in the working environment. This should
be followed by preventative screening of each and every
employee for identified risk factors and diseases and finally
bringing in planned interventions like initiation of awareness
programs and moving up to the referral of symptomatic in-
dividuals for proper treatment. The interventions for specific
disease groups are described below.
3.1. Non-communicable diseases
In 2005, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) accounted for
60% of all projected deaths worldwide e i.e. an estimated
35 million people died of NCDs.11
Low- and middle-income
countries account for 80% of the deaths from NCDs world-
wide. The five major NCDs are heart disease, stroke, cancer,
chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes. There is strong
scientific evidence that healthy diet and adequate physical
activity (i.e. 30 min of moderate intensity physical activity
for 5 days a week) play an important role in the prevention of
these diseases. Furthermore, it is estimated that approxi-
mately 80% of heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and 40% of
cancers can be prevented through inexpensive and cost-
effective interventions that address the primary risk factors.11
India is suffering from a large burden of non-
communicable diseases (NCD), and being one of the youn-
gest nations with the largest workforce, there is a significant
opportunity for the corporate sector in India to act against
NCDs through innovative strategies which could set an
example for other countries. The underlying socio cultural,
environmental and political determinants of NCDs include
urbanization, globalization, and subsequent lifestyle changes.
The most important modifiable risk factors for NCDs include
tobacco use, excessive alcohol use, poor dietary habits and
physical inactivity. Thus the various health strategies drafted
for NCDs at workplace, should target these important risk
factors in form of nutrition education, nutrition handouts;
health promotion activities like awareness about alcohol, to-
bacco use and drug addiction. The corporate houses should
promote activities which lead to decrease in stress manage-
ment like conducting yoga sessions, setting meditation and
counseling centers, providing stress management handouts,
and in-house gym to encourage the employees to remain
physically active. The corporate should subscribe to maga-
zines dealing with health concerns and health promotion. It
should have sufficient books and periodicals written for lay
person in a very lucid way dealing with common health
concerns.
3.2. Communicable diseases
Although disease pattern changes constantly, communicable
diseases remain the leading cause of mortality and morbidity
in India. Despite policies and interventions to prevent and
a p o l l o m e d i c i n e 1 0 ( 2 0 1 3 ) 1 8 1 e1 8 4182

4. control communicable diseases, India has failed to eradicate
vaccine-preventable diseases. According to WHO data on the
global burden of disease and the distribution of diseases
among countries, communicable diseases contribute to 40% of
the total DALYs in the world, and 44% of DALYs in India.12
According to a recent study of 25 developing countries,13
a
decrease in the growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) by
three percentage points in Asia and the Pacific is likely to
translate into 10 million more undernourished people, 56,000
more deaths among children 5 years old, and 2000 more
mothers dying in childbirth. It would further delay in
achieving the targets set Million Development Goals by United
Nations. The decreasing global funding for the communicable
diseases due to recession in global economy might, in turn,
affect national disease control programs.
Thus the corporate sector should work hand in hand with
the government to help curb the burden of communicable
diseases in India. By targeting their workforce in terms of
prevention and treatment of communicable diseases the
corporates would not only decrease the burden of the gov-
ernment in terms of the population coverage but would also
ease the pressure on the country’s fiscal budget in the current
economic slowdown worldwide. The various strategies which
may be employed in terms of prevention and control of
communicable diseases can be immunization against vaccine
preventable diseases, development of knowledge as well as
counseling programs for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and personal
and workplace hygiene.
4. How would the corporate benefit?
The burden of NCDs which translates to increase number of
sick days of employees has an impact not only on the quality
of life of affected individuals and their families, but also on the
country’s socioeconomic structure. World Health Organiza-
tion estimates that the loss of national income of different
countries will be dramatic due to this sickness absenteeism.
For example, it is estimated that India will lose around
227 billion international dollars from 2005 to 2015 as result of
the burden of NCDs. Furthermore, ensuring a healthy
manpower is not only the moral responsibility of the corpo-
rates but it also offers them a double benefit. Worksite well-
ness and health programs would enhance the workforce
morale and productivity as well as it would reduce the
absenteeism, thereby reducing the health insurance costs of
the company. Many well-known corporate houses have writ-
ten policies which safe guard the health of the employees. But
this is fragmented and found in selected companies.
5. Role of public health professionals
Public health has traditionally been linked with the welfare of
rural populace, persons residing in the urban slum and for
those workers involved in the unorganized sector. Though
public health cannot deny the services to the underprivileged
and they should get the priority, with improved health of this
section of the people, the public health policy should also be
focussed towards the persons working in different corporate
houses of our country. Public health professionals can and
should actively involve in improving the health of persons
working in corporate sector. This can range from increasing
awareness about common illness through different modes of
mass media to devising health policies specific for them.
6. Conclusion
To summarize, there is a need for strong public health-
business partnership at national and state level to deal with
health issues of the employees. Corporate sector should
involve itself in a big way in the national health program and
treat it as a matter of economic necessity and the expenditure
on it as productive investment. The roots of social re-
sponsibility lie in the moral obligation of the corporate entity;
to give something back to the society in which it functions,
however none of the above is possible unless the corporates
ensure that their own workforce, the manpower which earns
and works for them is healthy. The corporate houses should
learn the new jargon “Prevention rather than intervention”.
Conflicts of interest
All authors have none to declare.
r e f e r e n c e s
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