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Lawrence Chitumba Mashonaland Central Correspondent
Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS), through its subsidiary Premier Lifestyle, recently launched a nationwide wellness and fitness campaign to try and influence lifestyles so that its members do not succumb to preventable non-communicable diseases.

The programme will have economic benefits to the country as it will translate to low health costs.

The country is spending millions of dollars on type 2 diabetes and other diseases which are preventable.

In an interview at the launch of the campaign, Premier Lifestyle manager, Mr Munyaradzi Mujuru, said the programme was a way of investing in their members.

“As Premier Service Medical Aid Society, we initiated a wellness and fitness programme for our members as a way of investing in our members’ health,” he said.

“What we are trying to do is to influence lifestyle so that in the long run our members do not succumb to a category of diseases like hypertension, cancer and heart diseases.

“At least 70 percent of these diseases can be preventable if members live a healthy lifestyle. Ultimately that will translate to lower healthcare costs in the long run, therefore, it has economic benefits to the country.

“We are spending millions and millions of dollars on type 2 diabetes which is preventable.

‘‘We can save money which can be ploughed back into hospitals to cater for other things that are not preventable.

“Think about cancer which is costly to manage. If we are able to influence people’s lifestyles there will be a reduction in the risk of cancer by 30 percent and imagine how much will be saved in terms of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.”

Mr Mujuru said the main aim of the programme was to make sure that their members live a longer and much more productive life.