IKEA EMPLOYEES ATTENDED BUPA ARABIA’S PREVENTING SWINE FLU SEMINARS.

Jeddah, October 2009: In their effort to raise more awareness, Saudi Arabia’s leading health insurance company Bupa Arabia organized a two-day seminar on the risks of swine flu at Dr. Suleiman Fakeeh Hospital. The seminar Preventing Swine Flu is the second of its kind in a series of seminars aiming to inform cooperate employees on preventive measures to tackle the swine flu.

The seminars conducted by Dr. Mohammed Sherif on the 19th and 20th of October 2009 were attended by the employees of the Swedish furniture store IKEA in Jeddah. The Swine Flu Prevention seminars are part of Bupa Arabia’s active approach to tackle the virus, offering guiding principles on how to avoid infection and infecting others.

“It is no coincident, that prevention of spread takes the first place on the World Health Organization’s swine flu prevention agenda” Dr. Mohammed Sherif said. “In order to fight the virus we need to know our enemy, plan our defense and attack the virus firmly”, he added.

It is important to identify and pay attention to the symptoms of the swine flu, which are similar to those of a regular flu. Difficulties in breathing, compressing chest pain, disturbed degree of consciousness, acute and repeated vomiting, bloody sputum and fever above 38 degrees for 3 to 4 consecutive days are among the most common symptoms. Dr. Mohammed Sherif further highlighted the importance of healthy food and hygiene to boost the body’s defense system. The Bupa Arabia website http://www.bupa.com.sa/En/Pages/Home.aspx can be consulted for more information. It contains information material on the swine flu that can be downloaded. 

 
The Ministry of Health launched a large-scale campaign against the swine flu. It established an own website dedicated to the topic. The Ministry of Health's website as well as Bupa’s awareness campaign aim to eliminate any misconception on the swine flu vaccine. The vaccine has already been approved by the American and the European Health Agencies. Further, the vaccine is due to receive approval by the World Health Organization in Geneva within the next weeks after a series of tests insuring the vaccine’s harmlessness was conducted.

 “We were very concerned about the AH1 N1 virus before we attended the Bupa’s seminar. But thanks to the seminar we now know what we are up against and more importantly how to battle it.” Abdullah Rabhi Faisal, IKEA’s Human Resource Manager said.   “We need to raise more awareness among our own staff and our customers. We already have preventative measures in place such as sanitizer dispensers. Nevertheless, we need to act further by distributing leaflets raising awareness.” 
The awareness campaign is part of Bupa Arabia’s efforts as a responsible corporate citizen. The only company in the Kingdom that dedicated itself exclusively to health insurance is always concerned in providing excellent services to its clients. Bupa Arabia is taking care of the lives in its hands and will therefore continue the seminars to prevent the swine flu across the Kingdom.