Events :: GBC - Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Roundtable ‘Alcohol Abuse Prevention in Russian Companies’ was held in Moscow

On May 21, 2009, the V Roundtable of the National Association BUSINESS FOR HEALTHY SOCIETY was held in Moscow. The roundtable was dedicated to the alcohol prevention in Russian companies. The roundtable was organized by National Association «Business for Healthy Society» in cooperation with Russian Managers Association, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC), with support from National Association of Industrial Medicine. The key focus of the Roundtable was to provide companies from different business sectors with a platform to share opinions and experience in the area of developing and implementing alcohol abuse prevention educational programs. The roundtable also aimed to foster experience exchange between companies and promoting programs of proved effectiveness.

The Roundtable gathered medical, health and safety experts from large companies represented in Russia: Johnson & Johnson, Renault, SABMiller, Schlumberger, TNK-BP, Gazprom, Lafarge Cement, Lukoil, RUSAL, Severstal-Resource, Uralsib etc. Multilaterals and Russian NGOs experts participated in the Roundtable as well. Please, see the full list of participants.

The roundtable was opened by co-chairman of the National Association ‘Business for Healthy Society’, Executive Director of Russian Managers Association Sergey Litovchenko, who opened the session and welcomed the participants. In his introduction speech he underlined the importance of the problem being discussed, pointed out that “alcohol abuse is one of the most crucial challenges that Russian employers face constantly. It affects both field and office employees but field business units endure this issue as a part of daily routine”.

Mr. Litovchenko presented the latest highlights and the further plans of Business for Health Society National Association. He informed that Juergen Sauer, President of Mercedes-Benz Russia, became cochairman of National association as of May 2009. Hence, now the Association has two co-chairpersons: Sergey Litovchenko and Juergen Sauer. New Association’s member companies, Johnson & Johnson, TNK-BP and Schlumberger, were awarded with membership certificates.

During the round table, presentations were made by representatives of the governmental structures involved in developing programs for preventing alcohol abuse in Russia. Maxim Gorokhov, Deputy Head of the Individual Healthcare and Healthy Lifestyle Promotion Department of the Ministry of Health and Social Development , made a presentation dedicated to the current position of the governmental bodies on the alcohol abuse prevention and measures being taken by governmental structures to promote the alcohol abuse prevention programs.

Professor, Yevgenya Koshkina, M.D., Head of Epidemiological Department in Narcology Research Institute of the Ministry of Health, presented to the participants the latest statistics on alcohol abuse in Russia. In accordance with the data, there are more than 3,3 million persons with psychoactive substances abuse, 82,2% of them have alcohol abuse.
Anna Gvozditskikh, lawyer from the center of Social and Labor Rights, made a review of the Russian legislation regulating the issues of alcohol abuse at the workplace. Her presentation allowed the round table participants to learn the main peculiarities of the Russian labor legislation.

During the second part of the event, the participants discussed the current alcohol abuse programs from the companies’ practice. Irina Belikova, project manager from SABMiller – RUS told the participants about the educational program on alcohol abuse prevention being implemented in the company. In cooperation with GBC, SABMiller RUS organized for its staff more than 50 seminars and workshops in different Russian regions, including a seminar for the company’s Board of Directors and senior managers. Vladimir Rodionov, Head of Healthcare Department, TNK-BP, presented the company’s policy on alcohol abuse, which, in particular, contains activities on reduction of alcohol drinks offer in the shops situated near the company’s industrial buildings. Head of Analytical Sector of Moscow Underground System Valery Lubimtsev presented the Moscow Metro educational programs on alcohol abuse prevention.

Manager of GBC HEALTH@WORK program, M.D. Tatiana Grechanaia presented complex approach towards the prevention programs, which includes, in particular, control, staff education and psychological support. HEALTH@WORK program staff also presented new electronic module allowing to increase a number of staff members included into the workplace educational programs and provide unified standards of workplace education for different regions.

In conclusion, the round table participants decided to organize a working group aimed at developing effective decisions for alcohol abuse prevention at work. The working group will include representatives from governmental bodies, business structures and NGOs. The most of the participants agreed that the most actual topic for the companies is standardization of examination procedures aimed at detecting alcohol intoxication at workplaces, especially at the remove objects.

The second part of the event was dedicated to the HEALTH@WORK program Skills-Building Workshop. The session included demonstration of the workplace training module “Alcohol abuse prevention” and recommendations for program implementers.

Presentations

The roundtable is being held with the financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Open Health Institute (OHI) within the GLOBUS Project.