Fear of contracting virus in UAE has declined: Official

SHARJAH: Stakeholders must be united and supportive of one another in securing inexpensive, holistic solutions for the health and well-being of the labour force and their loved ones, leading to both the atraction of and retention of manpower. This is the way forward from the current distressing times, a regional official of a global health insurance provider, believes.

“Not all companies are able to cater to the needs and expectations of employees and the financial repercussions of the pandemic add another layer of stress on businesses,” stated Cigna Middle East & Africa/southeast Asia chief executive Jerome Droesch in an email interview.

However, Droesch also said: “Providing comprehensive healthcare must become a priority for companies.”

He cited the following as “simple strategies” towards employee support: compassionate leadership;consistentempatheticcommunicationsnamely one-on-oneconversations,meetings,andnewsleters; investments in knowledge and skills upgrade; and free online courses extended to families.

Droesch was asked for recommendations and the way forward to health and wellness since on Monday, he virtually presented to the press the results, analyses and implications of the “Cigna 360 Well-being: On the Road to Recovery 2021.”

The in-depth seventh research of the US company was sporadically conducted in the Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) year of 2020 until April 2021 among 18,043 men and women from age 18 and above. The surveyed countries were the UAE (1,254 respondents with 65 per cent or 840 men and 35 per cent or 439 women), Saudi Arabia, Australia, Belgium, China, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Taiwan, Thailand, The Netherlands, Turkey, UK and USA.

According to the results, the UAE has become among the “Top Three Most Positive Markets” ahead of Saudi Arabia and India relative to the resiliency associated with the identified indices. Droesch’s explanation on the UAE being among the Top Three Positive Markets: “The overall index in the UAE has consistently increased over the years (since 2016) and remained higher than the global average throughout the pandemic (66.2 points as against 62.2 points.”

Relating it to the nearly two-year-old pandemic, Droesch continued: “In fact, with the UAE stream rolling ahead with its vaccination campaign and safeguarding people’s well-being, it has helped in increasing confidence and trust in the country. The fear of contracting the coronavirus has declined sharply from 37 per cent (464 of 1,254) in Dec. 2020 to 22 per cent (276 of 1,254) in March to April 2021.