BOFUS talks wellbeing for its members

Correspondent | Friday October 27, 2017 13:28

The publicity secretary of BOFUS, Oreeditse Nyatso said: “Though we are a funeral scheme, we do not want to see our members losing their lives at a higher rate, our wellbeing is of paramount importance so as to live longer and happy”. He said as a board, they are very worried majority of deaths are due to Non-communicable Diseases (NCD). “Short illness, high blood pressure, and diabetes are major causes of our mortalities.

This is really worrying and as a board, we feel that we should invest more in programmes and initiatives aimed at addressing such.” He indicated that it is their strategic plan to educate members on issues of wellbeing, health, disease management and counselling.

The secretary for gender and health, Letlhogonolo Mabeo-Palalani said as the health secretary, her office is working on a plan to avert such.

“During 2016 Annual General Meeting (AGM), we invited a diet specialist who educated our members about food items compatible with their blood groups. This was a successful project, as a lot of explanation was said regarding how blood group relates to the food we eat daily,” Mabeo-Palalani said.

For 2017 AGM, she hinted that Diabetes Association Botswana will be educating delegates about diabetes; causes and management. “Diabetes is one of our major concerns, and we feel it is of our paramount importance to teach our members about such,” she said.

She also said as part of the AGM programme, delegates will be tested for and given education on diabetes. Nyatso said immediately after AGM, delegates are expected to disseminate information to their respective branches and cells. “It is our tradition for delegates to report back to report to their school, that is how we run our organisation.

“We believe in our ever vibrant and active structures. We encourage members to travel safely from various corners of the country, and their safety is important for this nation,” he concluded.