Implementation of a Corporate Wellness Program (CWP) in Mauritius to Catalyze the 5-2035 Vision of Decreasing Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases By Community Empowerment and Frugal Innovation

-Healthcare as an inalienable right and a collective responsibility-

© The 5-2035 Global Foundation for Community Health, December 2017

[Mission Statement]

The 5-2035 Global Foundation for Community Health (5-2035 GFCH – 5-2035.org) is a not-for-profit organization with a vision to help curb chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD: related lifestyle conditions of type II diabetes (T2D), cardiovascular diseases and stroke) in Mauritius. The signature vision of the GFCH is decrease T2D prevalence in the country to 5% by year 2035. Using grassroots efforts, we will create opportunities that empower communities to work with content experts, the private sector and governments through our scientific, medical, social, political and philanthropic advocacy. We will enable export of 5-2035 learnings to the world.

If you have any specific questions, please do not hesitate contact us.  Our response time may be slow as all of us at the GFCH are volunteers for the 5-2035 mission and have full time commitments. Thank you for your understanding and patience.

[Introduction: A Corporate Wellness Program as Tip of the Spear for the 5-2035 Health Care Revolution]

Forty percent of the Mauritian population is diabetic or pre-diabetic, making it a national security crisis for the country. The central thesis of this proposal is that the Mauritian business community can take a pro-active role as an interested stakeholder and steward of social responsibility to help curb the scourge of CNCD while providing better health and quality of life to their employees by establishing a wellness program within their organizations.

In a recent informal poll conducted at a top business organization in Mauritius, it was uncovered that 25% of their employees had T2D. Given the overall prevalence of T2D in the country, this discovery is not surprising. What is important to realize is that such a health situation, where at least a quarter of a company’s workforce has a progressive disease represents a staggering loss in productivity and employee retention. As a whole community, a sick population also represents devastating loss of earnings to business.

The implementation of wellness programs in select companies will provide an important stage for the 5-2035 to test out the 5-2035 model in a motivated workforce. The reality is that the private sector is much more nimble and has more capacity to adapt and re-direct than the public sector. Mauritian companies therefore represent an ideal population to develop, implement and improve key elements of the 5-2035 model.

[Project Description: Marshaling Talents and Resources to Develop a Mauritian 5-2035 Corporate Wellness Program (5-2035 CWP)]

When operational in its initial phase, the 5-2035 CWP will train and deploy 10 Community Health Nurse Practitioners (CHNPs) who will be supervised by 2 Community Health Doctors (CHDrs) across a select coalition of Mauritian companies that will target 10,000 employees to join on a volunteer basis. Companies will incentivize participation on pre-defined health outcome measures.

The following steps are planned to implement the 5-2035 CWP:

1. Present – March 2018. Establishment of the 5-2035 CWP Task Force. The Foundation has assembled a group of content experts to develop the curriculum for CHNPs and CHDrs. We plan to collaborate with the University of Mauritius (UoM), the Mauritius Research Council (MRC) and other Mauritian stakeholders to harmonize the curriculum in a frugally innovative fashion so it is seamlessly adapted to implementation, eventually at the national level;
2. March 2018. First 5-2035 CWP Task Force Conference. We plan for content experts to visit Mauritius to have intensive working sessions with Mauritian stakeholders to finalize agreements on the plan implementation (Figure 1; top red hexagon);
3. March – July 2018. Medical team selection. With collaboration from the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life (MoHQL) and other stakeholders, identify 12 candidates for CHNP and 3 candidates for CHDr to account for possible attrition. Further activities to finalize and formalize curriculum with local competent medical councils (Figure 1; middle red hexagon);
4. August 2018 – ongoing. Training of Trainers. A combination of online, in-person and internship-based training will be deployed to train the selected CHNP and CHDr candidates;
5. March 2019. Second 5-2035 CWP Task Force Conference. This conference will be of larger ambition to launch the 5-2035 CWP at select companies in Mauritius. As well, we will continue our parallel work with the MoHQL and other stakeholders to accelerate implementation of the 5-2035 vision at the national level, and
6. March 2019 – . 5-2035 CWP is operational in Mauritius. The CWP benefits to participating employees will include features such as:
   a) access to a secure electronic health record system to create a practical medical history including documenting laboratory studies;
   b) Close follow-up with the medical team who will coordinate interventions including lifestyle changes and medication regimen adherence tailored to their life situation.
   c) Time off during business hours to visit the CHNPs and CHDrs (who will also make rounds at sites) to improve access to care;
   d) Training to set up peer-2-peer support groups based on the Stanford University chronic disease self-management program.
   e) Work site exercise programs, lunch-time seminars and vouchers to exercise facilities and healthy food outlets to encourage healthy lifestyles. A system of points, also tied with outcome measures will be used to incentivize participation, and
   f) Opportunity to take part in healthy lifestyle outreach programs to local schools and communities.

The 5-2035 CWP will provide a win-win opportunity for Mauritian companies under the national Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme to improve health a quality of life of their employees, thus improving productivity and retention. This 5-2035 CWP will also enable the private sector to work in tandem with the public sector in an efficient manner to establish the critical pilot resources needed to launch the 5-2035 national vision to decrease CNCD in Mauritius as a model for the rest of the world using frugal innovation and community empowerment.

[5-2035 CWP: Outcome Measures and Deliverables]

The 5-2035 medical professional curriculum development and training will revolve around 3 pillars (Figure 2):

1. Clinical excellence
2. Community engagement
3. Research and training

As is logical, outcome measures for the 5-2035 medical professionals will be under these categories. Thus, each medical professional will have a clear curriculum roster of training, career development and key performance indices that will provide accountability and form the basis for their advancement opportunities.

The 5-2035 CWP will be operated along stringent clinical research standards. We will develop continuous monitoring of CNCD laboratory values to understand the impact of CHNP and CHDr interventions through the CWP. Regular surveys and feedback will also be carried out in the organizations for improvement (Figure 1; bottom red hexagon).

The major deliverable will be the proof of concept operation of the 5-2035 health policy vision that will then motivate rapid nationalization of the plan in the country. Two other tangible deliverables will be the curriculum infrastructure development for the training of future 5-2035 medical professionals, an “on the ground” cohort of 5-2035 medical professional leaders who would deploy the 5-2035 plan nationally.

[5-2035 CWP: Budget]

The members of the 5-2035 CWP Task Force are devoting their time on a pro bono basis to develop the 5-2035 vision. They are each devoted and motivated on personal and professional levels to the see the plan to success. This unique opportunity provides an unprecedented leverage for the success of the 5-2035 mission in Mauritius as a model to decrease CNCD around the world.

Budget is sought for: a) content experts travel and lodging; b) salary for local project manager for the 5-2035 Program; c) salary for medical professionals (to be determined), and d) development and maintenance of the online infrastructure for CHNP and CHDr curriculum and training. The intellectual property generated will be held by the 5-2035 GFCH to further its mission to vanquish CNCD in Mauritius a model for the world.

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