Doha, Qatar – 9 April 2015: Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO) Q.S.C., a leading petrochemical powerhouse in the region and the pioneer in petrochemical production in the Middle East, recently welcomed a team from the Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA), a member of Qatar Foundation, in its headquarters in Doha in order to raise awareness about diabetes and its prevention among employees.
QAPCO places the fitness and wellbeing of its employees and their knowledge of health related issues as a priority. Throughout the year, QAPCO’s Medical Section, in conjunction with the sport team of the QAPCO Club, organizes a number of health-oriented initiatives in order to promote healthy lifestyles within the company. In 2015, QAPCO launched the Be Fit, Be Healthy, Be Happy campaign where diabetes prevention plays an instrumental role shaping a healthier community.
On the occasion, Ahmed Yassen Al Hammadi Public Affairs and Communication Manager of QAPCO, mentioned: “At QAPCO, as a responsible corporate citizen, and in alignment with the Qatar National Vision 2030, we believe in raising awareness about diabetes amongst our employees and our community by highlighting the importance of adopting healthy lifestyles. I thank the Qatar Diabetes Association and its team for having visited QAPCO and for having raised awareness about various treatments possible in order to best fight and prevent diabetes. The impact of Qatar Diabetes Association’ s noble action is evident and benefits the Qatari society as a whole”.
QAPCO takes diabetes prevention very seriously. QAPCO strongly believes in encouraging its employees to adopt healthy lifestyles and to make healthy choices in order to prevent and fight conditions such as obesity, heart diseases and diabetes.
QAPCO was delighted to team-up with the Qatar Diabetes Association in an effort to increase diabetes awareness and prevention. The Qatar Diabetes Association (QDA) promotes healthy lifestyles and self-management for diabetes.
The QDA medical team brought along its Mobile Clinic to the QAPCO headquarters on C-Ring and provided health education about diabetes for over QAPCOstaff. Several tests were offered and conducted, such as blood sugar testing, for people with diabetes screening for the retina and foot were performed with one on one as well as dietary advises were provided.
Dr Abdullah Al Hamaq, QDA Executive Director, stated: “QDA is pleased to be able to provide its mobile clinic services to QAPCO’s staff members to promote diabetes awareness. Many of them had the chance to take the blood sugar test and feet examinations and discussed the results with our mobile unit medical team to discover new ways of following a healthy lifestyle.”
“QDA also provided dietary counseling to all interested staff and distributed pamphlets on diabetes,” added Al Hamaq.
The percentage of diabetic people in Qatar according to the reports of the Qatar National Diabetes Survey, also know as the Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus, was 15.07% in 1999 , 16.7 in 2008 and 16.7 in 2012. The stable rates from 2008 to 2012 , highlights the progress achieved those past 10 years, as a result of expanded Community awareness programs about the disease .
QAPCO welcomed the initiative from the Qatar Diabetes Association and considered the day was a real success. Numerous employees attended the QDA’s awareness sessions about diabetes. QAPCO praised QDA’s role and thanked all the volunteers who participated in this day dedicated to Diabetes Prevention.
About QAPCO: QAPCO is a Qatar-based company established in 1974 and is a joint venture between Industries Qatar (80%) and Total Petrochemicals France (20%). The company is one of the largest producers of low density polyethylene (LDPE) in the region besides producing ethylene, sulphur and other petrochemical products. QAPCO is involved in a number of joint ventures that include QATOFIN, QVC, and QPPC, making QAPCO a regional petrochemical powerhouse.
LDPE is considered as the most widely used type of plastic, with applications such as food packaging, agricultural films, toys, cables and wires, coating, lamination and many other products broadly used all over the planet. LDPE enriches our everyday life, making it more practical, safer, lighter and better.The LDPE produced by QAPCO is a high quality food-contact safe grade polymer and complies with local, EU and U.S. FDA standards related to food packaging safety.