Healthy lifestyle program wins DOH award

Manila, Philippines -  The “Making Health a Lifestyle” program of Novartis Healthcare Philippines won the 2nd Department of Health (DOH) “Outstanding Healthy Lifestyle Advocacy Award” for the Commercial Establishment category.

World Health Organization Representative to the Philippines Soe Nyunt-U, DOH Secretary Enrique Ona, and Danilo Baldemor, Philippine Association of Diabetes Educators president, presented Novartis with a plaque and a P100,000 grant during the awarding ceremony.

“We thank the DOH and its partners for recognizing our company’s contribution in promoting a healthy lifestyle among Filipinos. Novartis will continue to work with government and other stakeholders in implementing innovative and effective public health awareness initiatives,” said Thomas Weigold, country president & managing director, Novartis Healthcare Philippines.

The “Be Healthy Initiative” is a group-wide initiative that helps Novartis employees worldwide adopt and stick to a healthy lifestyle. It is anchored on four pillars of healthy living: regular exercise, healthy diet, accurate up-to-date health information, and maintaining health at work.

Since 2008, Novartis Philippines has been supporting the country’s observance of World Hypertension Day (WHD). Through the annual WHD celebrations, Novartis and its partners implement innovative and fun healthy lifestyle initiatives to increase public awareness on hypertension, particularly in prevention and early diagnosis.

Novartis will donate the P100,000 grant back to the DOH to implement a joint DOH-Novartis public health advocacy program this year.