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GSO Programme on Diabetes and Social Responsibility


The GSO Programme on Diabetes and Social Responsibility  has now entered into its third major phase, moving from formulation to implementation, with pilot projects designed to test and evaluate a Workplace Strategy for Diabetes and Wellness. Following guidance from the September 2008 Forum participants (see below) and with an unrestricted grant from MSD/Merck, the GSO carried out three introductory workshops or seminars in cooperation with local partners in Poland, Turkey and Russia. We have posted the agendas and meeting reports for all three, in English and in the national language here. 

Recommendations for national action in each of these countries, Poland, Turkey and Russia, were presented to participants at a consultative roundtable in Geneva in May 2010. The report of the May roundtable is available here. Additional recommendations for the refinement and continued implementation of the Workplace Strategy included an effort to link it more broadly to the overall campaign on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs - cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases and cancer), emphasizing in particular the significance of diabetes, and especially of Type 2 diabetes, as a condition that contributes to these other NCDs as well as being a debilitating but preventable disease for most people in and of itself. We look forward to working with our local partners to apply these lessons learned to a variety of workplace settings, not only in the three countries of Poland, Turkey and Russia, but also in other countries around the world. 

The original Workplace Strategy on Diabetes and Wellness was adopted at a Forum to Adopt and Implement a Workplace Strategy on Diabetes and Wellness on 25 September 2008.  Forum participants drew up a final strategy document and engaged in discussion about the dissemination of the newly adopted Strategy. The overall Strategy has four main components:

  • The world of work is an ideal place to disseminate information and to improve general knowledge about the diabetes epidemic and what can be done about it. 

  • There are steps that can be taken to mobilize for action, to develop better data and risk assessments through the working environment.

  • The strategy identifies the range of interventions to manage the monitoring and treatment of the diabetic condition.

  • The strategy concludes with a menu of options that can and should be taken to maintain a healthy work environment and to promote wellness in order to prevent and mitigate the onset of the diabetic condition among people in the world of work.

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Other Projects and Major Events

 
  Projects under development Mental health in the workplace
Controversies surrounding counterfeiting
  Post-MFA Exploratory Dialogue organized with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung: Promoting fair trade and labour standards in the post-MFA environment, 27 February 2007
  WTO Public Forum Roundtable organized with the Quaker UN Office on Corporate Social Responsibility and the Doha Development Round:  Are There Any Win-Win Opportunities for the Private Sector and Developing Countries?”, 25 September 2006
  HIV/AIDS Roundtable series on HIV/AIDS and Social Responsibility, 2005
  Working Time Briefing paper on working time and international competitiveness, April 2005
  CSR and Trade Report of a panel session moderated by GSO at the European Conference, November 2004
  TNCs and Human Rights Statement on the responsibilities of transnational corporations, September 2004
  WTO Public Symposium Summary of GSO panel discussion on CSR and the WTO, 26 May 2004
 

Geneva Social Observatory, 220 Route de Ferney, 1218 Le Grand-Saconnex, Geneva, Switzerland

Telephone +41 22 734 9601  Fax +41 22 734 9602  E-mail contact@gsogeneva.ch