Corporate Wellness Programs: Promoting a Healthy Workforce

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 38 million deaths each year are attributed to noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) with almost 75% of these deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Widespread concern led to the 2011 adoption of the United Nations Political Declaration on NCDs, which acknowledged the global NCD burden, threat to economies, and the need for action from multi-sectoral leaders on a local, national, and international level (UN, 2012). In high- and low-income countries alike, wellness programming within the workplace has been identified as a strategic method to prevent and treat NCDs as more than one-half of the world’s population spends about one-third of their adult lives at work (WHO, 2012).