Wellness campaign at Cullinan yields results

A significant community health issue, HIV/AIDS remains an area of concern to Petra Diamonds, its employees and its communities. Cullinan has a comprehensive HIV/AIDS management and awareness programme in place that includes a wellness clinic and the provision of anti-retroviral treatment (ART). Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) is also available to all mine employees, dependants and contractors at the VCT centre, located at the mine medical clinic. Employee patients with positive HIV results are sent to the mine hospital for confirmation of their CD4 count, while contractor patients are referred to the Refilwe clinic for CD4 count confirmation and possible treatment. Pre- and post-test counselling is provided to all patients at the clinic.

ART and further disease management services are provided at the VCT clinic for HIV-positive employee patients with a CD4 count of approximately 350. As it is imperative to assess patient readiness prior to prescribing ARV treatment, this is performed during post-test counselling.

In 2009, Cullinan held a wellness campaign which culminated in a Wellness Day in October dubbed 'walala wasala' (Isizulu for: you snooze, you lose). In addition to HIV testing, various other examinations including hypertension, cholesterol and diabetes, were carried out to promote employee wellness.

Internal emails and flyers were used to promote the wellness campaign. Shift workers were also encouraged to take part and the flexible clinic operating hours made it possible for all employees to be screened. Of the 983 employees at the mine in 2009, 684 employees participated in the wellness campaign. Of these, 538 underwent VCT with seven testing HIV positive and receiving treatment.

The success of this campaign was due to management and union buy-in, as well as the effective communication to Petra employees of the importance of VCT and other screening for overall wellness. Various incentives were provided by the Company as motivation and these included meal packs, T-shirts, caps and other promotional material.

A similar campaign is planned for the latter part of 2010.

In this section:

1. Safety and health
2. HIV/AIDS and malaria
3. Employment and human rights
4. Community
5. Case studies