DOH drops SEX for ‘Live Well’

MANILA, Philippines - Sexual promiscuity at call centers? The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry is not amused.

Following complaints from the BPO sector, the Department of Health (DOH) yesterday dropped a slogan that recommended “SEX” to promote a healthy lifestyle among call center workers.

The new slogan is the tamer “Live Well, Work Well.”

Health Undersecre-tary Eric Tayag said they withdrew SEX or the “Stress-free, Eat the right foods and Exercise” program for call center agents after drawing negative feedback.

Tayag said call center agents and other groups opposed the project after newspaper headlines such as “Call center agents need to have more sex” came out.

According to Tayag, the SEX tagline was supposed to encourage call center workers to lead healthier lifestyles.

“We chose the SEX slogan because it’s simple, funny and has immediate recall,” he said.

But call center agents and legislators don’t find the slogan funny at all.

Tayag said call center agents complained they are already being stigmatized by reports that HIV infections and other sexually transmitted diseases were higher in the call center industry.

The health official apologized to call center agents.

“We had no bad intentions,” he said.

Tayag said they will continue the health campaign but with the new slogan “Live Well, Work Well.”

Meanwhile, the DOH urged Metro Manila residents to manage stress to avoid diseases.

DOH-National Capital Region director Eduardo Janairo said stress can lead to a range of illnesses, from the common cold to severe heart ailment.

“Stress physically wears out the body,” Janairo said, adding that urban living poses many challenges than can trigger severe depression, headache and loss of sleep.

The National Center for Mental Health defines stress as similar to tension, which a person feels when faced with a new, unpleasant or threatening situation. It is an individual’s internal reaction to a pressure or demand.

Among the common types of stress are physical such as fatigue, headache, frequent colds; mental like the decrease in concentration and memory, confusion, loss of sense of humor; emotional such as depression, anger, frustration, worry, fear, irritability, impatience, and short temper, and behavioral like increase in eating habits, smoking, drinking, crying, yelling, swearing and blaming others.

Janairo said common causes of stress that people encounter in the city are the daily hassles of commuting, beating the Bundy clock, noise, pollution, heat, confined places, red tape, work deadlines, and rudeness or bossiness of other persons.

Lifestyle choices can also cause stress like drinking too much coffee, not having enough sleep and overloaded work schedules.

To avoid stress, Janairo urged the public to practice healthy lifestyle, eat a well-balanced diet, have regular exercise and adequate sleep, manage time and finances, deal with problems as they come and look at things more positively.