EWTB Exemplars
EWTB runs the Exemplar Award - an initiative designed to highlight and showcase outstanding practice in the effort to tackle workplace TB. Alongside our 'Exemplars' we also run a 'Legacy' award for companies who have shown a significant commitment over time to tackling TB, but whose work is no longer active.
Read the case studies below from our first group of Exemplars.
2024 EXEMPLARS
Freeport-McMoRan International (FMI) operate the largest mining site in Papua, Indonesia. The site offers healthcare to employees and the local community, with services ranging from primary care through to complex tertiary care.
The region surrounding the mine has high rates of tuberculosis (TB). FMI offer regular screening to all employees and help ensure that any one who falls sick has access to the best standards of care with the National TB Programme notified of each case.
The high-quality, integrated care available to not only employees but also their families and the surrounding community make FMI's programme one of the best that we've come across.
The Otsuka group of companies is based in Japan and its businesses include pharmaceutical-related products for the diagnosis and treatment of disease, and nutraceutical products for the maintenance of good health.
The Otsuka companies in Indonesia have been the driving force behind one of the largest corporate screening initiatives in the world. They have led on the establishment of a coalition of companies under the Free TB at Workplaces campaign which has so far screened over 70,000 people for TB and identified many previously undiagnosed cases.
People identified through the project are connected to the national TB programme's services for confirmatory diagnosis and treatment. The campaign is considered one of the best of its type anywhere in the world.
Perenco is an independent hydrocarbon producer involved in the entire lifecycle of projects, all around the world, from exploration to decommissioning.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, the Group purchased best-in-class PCR testing machines to ensure that all employees at their sites in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Gabon & Cameroon had access to regular testing.
As the threat of the pandemic receded, the company took the novel step of repurposing its new PCR capabilities to address a different health threat: TB, which is endemic in the regions around their operations.
By Collaborating with the National TB Program, Perenco have helped expand access to testing to employees and communities around their sites. The project is an exemplar in both TB and pandemic prep, prevention and response.
Sibanye Stillwater operates mining sites in a number of countries, including several in southern Africa where rates of TB/HIV co-infection are among the highest in the world.
Because HIV and TB make such a dangerous combination, in areas with high burdens of both diseases, integrated care is essential. Sibanye-Stillwater operate a fully integrated program, ensuring all employees are regularly screened, tested, and have access to treatment, alongside world class sick-leave provisions to help workers recover.
Through their efforts, the incidence of HIV in their sites is dramatically lower than in the background population. It is a remarkable achivement.
LEGACY AWARDEES
Kempinski Hotels have long been one of the leading companies when it comes to workplace TB and workplace health in general. Over the last decade, they have built and operated a unique peer-education and engagement programme which has seen their hotel workers receive training to educate their local communities about the threat of TB.
During the pandemic, Kempinski's work on employee health broadened to cover other health issues and they presently have no active hotels working on TB. However, their commitment to the fight against the disease, and their leading programmes - now spun off into a separate NGO known as BEHealth - make them worthy winners of our first legacy award.