Champions of Wellness Programme

This initiative, developed by Chemserve and extended to AECI's other businesses, further supports employees affected by HIV/Aids and has been extremely successful.

The Champions of Wellness are employees who volunteer to be trained to educate and assist their colleagues in understanding, preventing and managing chronic illnesses, with HIV/Aids being the main focus. These volunteers are required to follow a structured training programme before they can advise and assist colleagues and operate as Wellness Champions. In training, volunteers undergo a facilitated process to change the way they view HIV/Aids and individuals infected with the disease. The aim is to move from a viewpoint of illness to a viewpoint of wellness, understanding that HIV/Aids is not inherently different from other chronic but controllable conditions.

Once fully trained as Champions of Wellness, volunteers can continue their training to become Champions of Life. At this advanced stage, trainees are taught to set objectives, deal with sensitive issues and sustain a meaningful quality of life ("lead by example"). They also learn communication skills.

In the final Champion of Change phase of the initiative, volunteers are taught to act as agents to facilitate change in the way their colleagues and community members view HIV/Aids. At this point, the Champion becomes a mentor to fellow employees.

There are currently 74 trained Champions across the AECI Group.