The Guyana Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBCHA) has added 15 more employees to its trained network of peer educators, after completing its second training of workplace educators last week.
According to a press release, employees who participated in the second training for 2014 came from Farfan and Mendes Limited, the Guyana Gold and Diamond Miners Association, the Guyana National Shipping Cor-poration, the Guyana Revenue Authority, Hand-in-Hand Group of companies and Scotiabank.
The training, held over a three-day period, sensitized participants on health and wellness issues as well as equipped them with the skills to share information with their peers. It also covered topics such as HIV and gender-based violence prevention; the importance of mental health and awareness of non-communicable diseases.
Coordinators from the Men’s and Women’s Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Human Ser-vices and Social security discussed issues of changing gender roles and norms, while outlining the services available for people affected partner violence. Participants were given current information from the Health Ministry’s vector control services.
The GBCHA supports the business sector in promoting healthy lifestyles in the workplace and community. The Coalition assists members in the development of programmes, workplace policies and also distributes resource materials.
The GBCHA recently elected a new Board of Directors to serve 2014-2015. Chairperson Ruth Autar, of Edward B Beharry and Co Ltd; is supported by Troy Peters of Banks DIH Limited; Jennifer Cipriani of Scotia-bank; Andrew Astwood of Guyana National Shipping Corporation, Chaitnarine Brijnandan of Continental Group of Companies, Donna Roberts-Benjamin of John Fernandes Limit-ed; Yvette Fiedtkou of Sterling Products Limited and Parvesh Bhola of National Milling Company.
