L’hypertension artérielle étant l’une des principales causes de décès dans le monde, et certains pays d’Afrique subsaharienne affichant des taux de prévalence de l’hypertension parmi les plus élevés au monde (bit.ly/2ovEFEF), savez-vous comment maintenir votre cœur en bonne santé ?

Divers facteurs liés à la santé, notamment le mode de vie, l’âge et les antécédents familiaux, peuvent influencer la probabilité d’être atteint d’une maladie cardio-vasculaire (https://bit.ly/2lgqBbk) et avoir une incidence sur la santé et le bien-être des gens.

Il est impossible de changer son âge et son bagage génétique. En revanche, des études indiquent que de petits changements de la routine quotidienne (bit.ly/2Pa3xJO), à la maison et au travail, peuvent faire la différence.

Soutenir et promouvoir le bien-être de ses employés fait partie de l’engagement de Nestlé à encourager les gens à mener une vie plus saine (bit.ly/2nQpLIx). Et nous pensons que d’autres entreprises devraient créer des environnements de travail qui améliorent la nutrition, la santé et le bien-être du personnel.

« En tant que première entreprise mondiale de nutrition, de santé et de bien-être, nous pensons qu’il est temps d’investir dans des programmes de santé et de bien-être et de rendre ainsi les employés plus heureux et en meilleure santé », a déclaré Rémy Ejel, Market Head, Nestlé Central and West Africa (CWA) Ltd.

« L’organisation d’activités de santé et de bien-être pour les employés met en lumière notre volonté d’améliorer la qualité de vie et de contribuer à un avenir plus sain (https://bit.ly/2LKxFLa) afin de soutenir une main-d’œuvre plus motivée et plus productive – tout en contribuant également à réduire l’absentéisme, à accroître la productivité et le rendement et, en fin de compte, à améliorer la qualité des produits et la satisfaction des clients » a-t-il ajouté.

Investir dans des lieux de travail favorables à la santé

Des initiatives de lutte contre les maladies cardiovasculaires et d’autres problèmes de santé sont déjà en cours : à ce jour, 75% des employeurs dans le monde offrent des ressources et des informations en matière de bien-être et/ou un programme général de bien-être – comme le souligne le 2018 Employee Benefits Report de la Society for Human Resources Management (https://bit.ly/2NHBSmS) – ce qui témoigne d’un changement dans l’intérêt porté à la promotion de la santé et du bien-être des employés.

Google a investi à l’échelle mondiale dans un People & Innovation Lab (PiLab) (bit.ly/2VTjigp)qui conduit des recherches et des réflexions sur les moyens de maintenir ses employés en bonne santé. De plus, son programme Googlers-to-Googlers encourage les employés à enseigner à d’autres employés des pratiques de fitness pour conserver leur santé. Aux États-Unis, Newmont Goldcorp (https://bit.ly/2nJFBou)  a créé le groupe « Military Veterans Programs and Support » pour aider ses employés à tisser des liens et à créer un sentiment d’appartenance.

Au Burkina Faso, la Caisse Nationale de Sécurité Sociale (http://www.cnssbf.org/)  organise deux fois par semaine des séances de sports d’équipe et d’entraînement physique pour ses employés. Telecel (https://www.telecelfaso.bf) organise également des matches de football avec d’autres entreprises du pays, deux fois par semaine dans un parc public.

Ce ne sont que quelques exemples qui montrent comment les entreprises de la région et à travers le monde peuvent contribuer activement à l’amélioration du bien-être de leur personnel et investir dans des lieux de travail sains.

À vos chiffres !

Chez Nestlé, les employés ont également l’opportunité d’en savoir davantage sur leur santé pour, ensuite, améliorer leurs choix de mode de vie grâce à notre initiative mondiale « Know Your Numbers Programme » (KYNP – Programme Connaissez vos chiffres).

Lancée en 2017 en Afrique du Centre et de l’Ouest, et à nouveau en 2019 à titre de rappel pour l’ensemble de notre personnel, elle vise à aider les employés à évaluer leur état de santé actuel et à se fixer des objectifs de santé personnels, tout en aidant notre Société à mieux les comprendre et à créer des programmes de santé.

Après avoir répondu en ligne et anonymement à un bref questionnaire HRA (Évaluation des risques pour la santé) couvrant des sujets comme les antécédents familiaux, la consommation de tabac, la nutrition et le stress, ils reçoivent un aperçu de leur état de santé actuel et des domaines qui nécessiteraient davantage d’attention.

Les employés peuvent également utiliser leurs résultats biométriques antérieurs – qui mesurent les caractéristiques physiques et comportementales d’une personne comme la tension artérielle, le poids, la taille et le tour de taille – réalisés au cours des six derniers mois par un professionnel de la santé, pour enrichir leur rapport HRA personnalisé.

Des évaluations peuvent être effectuées à plusieurs reprises pour suivre les changements de leur mode de vie et leurs progrès en matière de santé et de forme physique.

Pour les aider davantage encore, le programme KYNP leur donne accès à des programmes de santé personnalisés, à des enquêtes sanitaires guidées et à d’autres initiatives en matière de santé déployées par Nestlé et d’autres entreprises partenaires.

De plus, les employés de tous nos sites de la région passent chaque année un examen médical.

Encourager les employés à mener une vie plus saine

D’autres activités de santé et de bien-être sont également en cours chez Nestlé CWA (Afrique du Centre et de l’Ouest).

« Nos employés sont encouragés à participer tous les jours à des “pauses bien-être” dans nos bureaux à travers la région, pour les inciter à se lever de leur chaise et à se défaire des comportements sédentaires », explique Grégoire Scilipoti, Responsable Régional Ressources humaines chez Nestlé CWA.

Il a ajouté qu’ils participaient également à des séances d’exercice physique au bureau dirigées par des spécialistes en conditionnement physique, comme les « Workout Thursdays » (l’entraînement du jeudi) au Ghana, lancés au début de cette année, les cours de Zumba en Côte d’Ivoire et des séances d’entraînement avec un moniteur de fitness au Cameroun, au Burkina Faso et au Nigeria.

Les employés de nos bureaux au Cameroun et au Burkina Faso peuvent entretenir leur forme en utilisant des installations de conditionnement physique gérées par un Comité de bien-être. En guise d’alternative, tous nos travailleurs bénéficient de tarifs réduits dans les centres de fitness locaux.

« Participer à des séances de fitness me permet de rester en forme et en bonne santé, d’investir dans mon développement personnel et de me sentir membre de l’entreprise », a déclaré Gbede Koffi Tohonou, comptable financier junior au Burkina Faso pour le Nestlé Savanna Cluster.

Lors de journées internationales spéciales – comme la Journée mondiale du cœur (bit.ly/2H1tVnS) du 29 septembre – les employés se voient également proposer des conseils et recommandations en matière de nutrition par des experts dans le cadre d’événements organisés en interne et par le biais de la messagerie interne.

Prendre de bonnes et saines habitudes

Au Ghana, les employés de Nestlé peuvent profiter des « Fruity Tuesdays » (mardis fruités), où toute une variété de fruits leurs sont offerts pour les aider à prendre des habitudes alimentaires saines et des collations nutritives.

La Nestlé Nutrition Line, une émission radiophonique quotidienne consacrée à la nutrition, à la santé et au bien-être programmée depuis près de 20 ans, est toujours diffusée dans notre bureau au Ghana et continue à donner à nos employés de judicieux conseils de vie et de santé.

« Il est très important d’instaurer une culture de vie saine parmi les employés et de les encourager à être des modèles à suivre », a déclaré Philomena Tan, directrice générale de Nestlé Ghana.

« Tous ces efforts ont de la valeur car, en améliorant le bien-être de nos employés grâce à ces activités et programmes de fitness, nous améliorons aussi leur efficacité et leur productivité. Leurs familles, nos consommateurs et nos partenaires en bénéficient. Au bout du compte, nous améliorons la qualité de vie de tous et contribuons à un avenir plus sain », a-t-elle ajouté.

LONDON (Reuters) – A huge Darth Vader mask balloon took to the skies over the western English port of Bristol on Thursday as the city’s annual balloon festival began.

The Star Wars-themed balloon took part following a crowdfunding campaign that saw visitors pledge 5,255 pounds ($6,383) for its appearance.

“The Darth Vader special shape hot air balloon was built in Bristol by Cameron Balloons but has never flown in this fine city,” the organizers said on crowdfunding website FundSurfer.

Europe’s largest ballooning event features four days of displays, with more than 130 colorful hot air balloons from around the world.

LONDON (Reuters) – A new narrow footbridge spanning a near 60-metre gorge will open this weekend, restoring a lost crossing to Tintagel castle, legendary birthplace of King Arthur, on the windswept coast of southwest England.

Made of steel, local slate and oak, the 5 million pound ($6 million) bridge almost 60 meters above sea level will reconnect the two halves of the castle on the north Cornish coast.

A 40 mm gap in the middle is designed to represent the gap between the mainland and the island, the present and the past, and history and legend, according to English Heritage which built the bridge.

The site’s history is intertwined with the legend of Arthur, prompting the Earl of Cornwall to build a castle between 1230 and 1240, half on the mainland and half on a jagged headland jutting into the sea.

The two sides were connected by a landbridge which slowly eroded over time between the 13th century gatehouse on the mainland and the courtyard on the headland. The two sites have been connected until now by deep steps.

“Tintagel Castle has been made whole again,” said Kate Mavor, English Heritage’s Chief Executive. “Once more, people will cross from one side of the castle to the other and their footsteps will echo those from hundreds of years ago.”

The bridge is made of two independent cantilevers of approximately 30 meters long that reach from either side of the gorge and almost meet in the middle, English Heritage said.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Three chaotic days of peace, music, mud and free love helped immortalize the 1969 Woodstock festival as the touchstone of Sixties counterculture.

Fifty years on, the biggest music festivals could hardly be more different, with corporate sponsors, VIP packages, air conditioned tents, gourmet dining and social media influencers.

Businesses are investing in more than 800 music festivals in the United States alone, drawn by hard-to-reach audiences of millennials who seek experiences along with music.

“Sponsorship is a huge part of the revenue streams. For big festivals, it runs to seven figure numbers,” said Andy Gensler, executive editor of music touring publication Pollstar.

“The cost of talent and the back end production costs can be enormous, so sponsorship is part and parcel for these festivals to survive and thrive,” Gensler said.

Gone are the days when music fans slept in the open air, survived on junk food and put up with smelly porta potties.

At annual gatherings like Coachella in the California desert, Bonnaroo in Tennessee and Lollapalooza in Chicago, fans get flushable toilets, art installations, sneaker cleaning, roller skating rinks, mini spa treatments and sex therapy sponsored by the likes of Revlon, American Express, Durex condoms and Hewlett Packard.

“The millennial consumer wants and craves experiences. They want to touch and feel, and they want to do that with other people,” said Brian Gordon, chief executive of U.S. based sports and entertainment marketing agency Engine Shop.

“You see elements of art or food working their way into music festivals to give a broader cultural experience,” Gordon said.

Amenities are not the only things that have changed. With rap and R&B surpassing rock for the first time in 2017 as the biggest music genre in the United States, stars like Beyonce, Cardi B. and Jay-Z are now among the most sought-after festival headliners.

While rock bands like the Rolling Stones and the Eagles dominate touring, they attract an older fan base “and the last thing they want to do is go to a festival and camp and commune with 100,000 people,” Gensler said.

BIG BUCKS

The Coachella festival, held over two weekends in the California desert for some 100,000 people, had 19 named sponsors in 2019. At $9,500 for two people, the top package included real beds in air conditioned tents, private parking and golf cart transport to the stage.

Brands spent more than $1.6 billion in 2018 on sponsoring U.S. music festivals, tours and venues, up from $1.2 billion in 2011, according to estimates from IEG, global sponsorship consultants.

More than 85% of that spending was on music festivals, with lifestyle brands, health drinks and cannabis products among some of the biggest new entrants, IEG said.

While Woodstock’s 400,000 attendees in 1969 waded in mud after a thunderstorm, skinny dipped in a pond and dealt with shortages of food and toilets, festival goers at Coachella can dine at pop-ups from some of the trendiest restaurants in Los Angeles, while models and celebrities pose for Instagram-able moments at private pool parties organized by beauty and fashion labels.

The Coachella festival grossed $114.6 million in 2017 over two weekends, according to the most recent figures reported by Billboard Boxscore, which said revenue had jumped seven fold from 2007. The 1969 Woodstock festival incurred debts of about $1.4 million.

One exception to the growing commercial trend is Glastonbury in southern England, where the most visible brand names are Oxfam, Greenpeace and WaterAid. Glastonbury, which began in 1970 and also has seen its fair share of mud, has donated millions of dollars to good causes from proceeds from the event, which attracts around 200,000 people.

While music festivals have changed radically, Gordon said their recent evolution has echoes back to Woodstock.

“Woodstock wasn’t just about the music. It was a shared cultural experience. Obviously, music festivals today are very different than Woodstock was in terms of what that cultural experience was, but they are not just about the music,” Gordon said.

ROME (Reuters) – You can walk up and down Rome’s famed Spanish Steps all you want but don’t try sitting down to take in the moment any more because police will shoo you away with a whistle and threaten you with a fine.

City authorities have imposed a new ban at the site, beloved of tourists and immortalized in the 1953 romantic comedy “Roman Holiday” with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.

They say too many people sit down for too long, obstructing the steps for others, or stop to eat lunches from nearby fast food joints.

Not everyone was happy with the attempt to restore order, which began this week.

“I think it’s ridiculous, silly,” said Thomas Atkins, an American tourist from Seattle, as he watched police blow whistles to move people on.

“You’re only going to rest for a little while on the stone anyway and you eventually move along,” he said on Thursday.

Vittorio Sgarbi, one of Italy’s best known art critics, called the move “Fascist-like.”

Fines for those who do not obey police range from 160 to 400 euros ($180-450). But so far, no signs have been put up informing tourists about the ban, leaving police a lot to whistle about.

Italian tourist Federico Guerrinoni, from northern Italy, said he agreed with the ban.

“I know it will bother some people, but you could see something like this coming,” he said. “There were a lot of disrespectful people who were taking pieces of monuments. So a bit of protection won’t hurt,” he said.

The 135 steps were built in 1726 to link the piazza at their base with the Church of the Most Holy Trinity at the top of the Pincio Hill.

Italians know them as “La Scalinata (Staircase) di Trinità dei Monti,” a reference to the church at the top. In English, they are known as the Spanish Steps because the Spanish embassy to the Vatican is located at their base.

FIFTY YEARS IS a long time for a brand to be in Singapore, and fittingly, Seiko marked the occasion with the opening of its new flagship boutique and also to launch its trio of Grand Seiko models.

Located in Takashimaya Shopping Centre, the boutique cements the Japanese brand’s presence

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – For decades the Equestrian and Racing Club has given upper-crust Sudanese the chance to learn horse riding and watch horse racing in a shady compound set apart from the surrounding urban bustle of the capital Khartoum.

But the club has had to cut back activities since popular unrest erupted in December and led to the fall of autocratic President Omar al-Bashir in April, dampening higher society life.

Horse races were halted and attendance at equestrian classes dwindled after protests broke out in the dusty streets of the capital on the Nile river, with the loss of scores of lives as security forces cracked down.

“The main problem is that people don’t have enough cash (for the club), they’re keeping it to live on, not to bring children to ride horses,” said Rafat Awad, the club’s treasurer.

“You see the situation in our country, people dying. You can’t just go and race. Some people are sad, some are angry, some still waging revolution, so we found it wasn’t right to stage competitions.”

The club was founded in 1908 under British colonial rule but betting on horse races ended in 1983 when sharia (Islamic law) took effect. Before being halted, horse races were run through sponsorships and some 200 horses are kept in the club’s stables.

There has been a modest resurgence of visitors to the club in recent weeks as violence has eased following a political transition deal between the temporary ruling military council and opposition leaders.

Around two dozen people, including children, come for riding classes in the evenings, after the searing daytime heat eases, often watched by their families.

Lessons are offered daily except Friday, the Muslim holy day, for 1,400 Sudanese pounds (nearly $20) a month – a sum beyond the means of most Sudanese, let alone the cost of buying and keeping a horse at the club.

Some female club members describe how they’ve had to overcome a disapproval of women participating in sport that is common in strictly Islamic Sudan.

“If your family members are interested, it’s easier than if you start on your own,” said Einas, 18, who has been riding for one year. Her father has race horses and has won competitions. She said that in Sudan, however, racing was mainly a man’s sport while women often practiced show-jumping.

Twenty-four-year-old Sagda, a club member who had been riding for 11 years, said: “My mum brought me here, my family don’t mind that I’m a woman riding.

“It can be a bit hard – some people disapprove at how we are dressed,” she added, referring to tight-fitting equestrian garb.

WET MARKET TO TABLE

By Pamelia Chia
Published by Epigram

THESE ARE MODERN times – we get our food delivered by PMDs; head to the supermarket or specialty butchers if we want a steak for dinner; join urban farm message groups to have freshly harvested vegetable boxes sent to us; and we do not bargain but head to whichever supermarket which advertises the best prices for the week.

Who thinks of traipsing through the aisles of non-airconditioned wet markets, diving into sloppy piles of slippery fish while elbowing aunties and helpers out of the way for the freshest catch? If you even know how to tell one glistening eyeball from another in the first place. Or putting your non-existent haggling skills to work to make sure the pork seller doesn’t overcharge you for the prime bu jian tian cut or give you a few grams short of the 100gm taugeh you wanted.

The not-so-wet and wonderful sights and sounds of the neighbourhood market are brought to life with a fresh perspective by newbie author Pamelia Chia, whose book Wet Market to Table is a timely reminder for urbanites to revisit the way we used to shop, and for the much younger generation to discover the richness of their own food heritage.

Chia navigates the markets in a clear, systematic manner, identifying 25 ingredients that are easily found in the vegetable stalls. Some are familiar, some less so, but each comes with detailed descriptions on how to pick, store and prepare them in imaginative recipes that showcase Chia’s breadth of cooking knowledge. According to her, she writes with a “sense of urgency” as such ingredients make way for more global produce like vine-ripened tomatoes or tomatillos.

So, even as she expounds on each ingredient, she looks at how they can crossover from Asian to Western cuisine easily.

For example, while jambu may be more often seen in rojak or just eaten on its own, Chia ponders its versatility in a baked dessert, such as a luscious-looking tarte tartin or galette.

She also points out borlotti beans – you normally expect to see them in Mediterranean cuisine, yet the local market is well stocked with fresh pink speckled pods hiding little nuggets that the Cantonese use in slow-simmered pork soup. They are equally good when prepared like hummus, she says, or simmered with fish in a creamy sauce perfumed with rosemary.

She also peppers the book with charming stories about some of the stallholders, and even a list of tips for novice market goers.

Chia, who has a degree in Food Science and Technology, doesn’t have any formal writing experience but relies on her strength in research to provide in-depth content on an ingredient’s history and nutritional value.

The response to the book has been “overwhelming”, she says. “I wrote it with the young, well-travelled Singaporean in mind, but what I didn’t expect was for it to resonate with aunties and uncles from my parents’ generation as well.” Praise from fellow chefs and second generation hawkers has also been forthcoming.

She is already thinking about writing a second cookbook – with a focus on vegetable cooking from an Asian perspective. “So many of the vegetablefocused cookbooks out there are written from the Western perspective of salads, categorized by seasons – but I’d like to write one that’s more relevant to people living in the tropics with no seasons, and which appeals to the Asian palate.”

Until then, Wet Market to Table is a warm, fuzzy and practical tribute to a Singapore institution that doesn’t get enough appreciation. If nothing else, it’s a colourful reminder that sometimes, the best things in life can be found right in our own backyard.

 

(Reuters) – The Rolling Stones have rocked stages around the world in their more than 50-year career. But now their influence has gone into space after NASA’s Mars InSight Mission named a rock on the planet after the band.

Slightly larger than a golf ball, the “Rolling Stones Rock” is said to have rolled some 3 feet (1 meter), spurred by the InSight spacecraft’s thrusters during touchdown on Mars in November, NASA said.

“In images taken by InSight the next day, several divots in the orange-red soil can be seen trailing Rolling Stones Rock,” it said. “It’s the farthest NASA has seen a rock roll while landing a spacecraft on another planet.”

Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr. announced the name as Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Charlie Watts were about to perform on Thursday night at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium, close to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The Rolling Stones, known for hits such as “Sympathy For The Devil” and “Brown Sugar”, called the honor “a milestone in our long and eventful history”.

While the “Rolling Stones Rock” name is informal, it will feature on working maps of Mars, NASA said, but only the International Astronomical Union can give official scientific names for locations, asteroids and other objects in the solar system.