Experts at a roundtable in Dhaka have emphasized collaboration to sustain and scale the health and wellness initiatives for workforce of industries including Ready Made Garments (RMG) workers.

 They came up with the statement while speaking at a roundtable titled ‘Fostering the Health and Wellness of our Workforce’ arranged by AYAT Education, in partnership with Integral Global and BGMEA, and supported by The John C. Martin (JCM) Foundation at hotel Westin in the capital on Wednesday.

AYAT Education organized this roundtable to develop a collaborative roadmap for future initiatives in the industrial sector to ensure improved health and wellness of our workforce that directly connects with industry productivity, growth, and sustainability.

“We need to democratize the initiatives taken by the organizations and reduce barriers to accessibility of health services of our workforce”, Tuomo Poutiainen, Country Director of International Labour Organization (ILO) Bangladesh said in the roundtable.

He also said “many organizations have taken the initiatives for vaccination, health, hygiene, nutrition, ergonomics, eyecare, etc., which is well appreciated, and from ILO, we want to focus more on scalability and replicating these initiatives in other factories to ensure the wellness of our workforce.”

Faruque Hassan, President of BGMEA and MD of Giant Group said it is essential to equip RMG workforce with the necessary knowledge and strategies to safeguard themselves and improve productivity.

Nabil Ahmed, Founder and Director of Integral Global, presented a keynote presentation on the activities undertaken by AYAT Education and Integral Global in three textile and 6 RMG factories with almost 30,000 workers. 

Because of the health education and awareness campaigns, proper mask usage by facility employees improved by 51%, and proper hand washing practices by facility employees improved significantly. 

Distinguished speakers from different industries shared their experiences on health and wellness initiatives that helped improve productivity, such as Spec-Techs, where employers conduct eye-screening campaigns, and are mandated to give them glasses and eye care support if they need them. 

More initiatives include focusing on financial well-being by providing financial support and access to loans and other discounts in hospitals.

Charles Whiteley, Ambassador of the European Union (EU) delegation to Bangladesh said it is important to establish daycare centers which have proved to improve productivity in Europe. 

He also suggested the importance of collecting data on workers' health and wellness to inform evidence-based interventions.

Nusrat Aman, CEO of AYAT Education responded by saying that the low health-seeking behavior and general awareness among workers should be addressed through proper use of resources. 

AYAT Education is developing a Digital Toolkit for BGMEA partners and RMG workers which will have information about health and wellness and preventive care. 

Sadhana Bhagwat, Team Lead, Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health of WHO, Ramesh Singh, Country Director, CARE Bangladesh, Dr. Lilian Lou, President and Program Director of the John C. Martin Foundation also spoke at the roundtable.