Dr. Ramez Sawiris, R&D lead for Haleon Middle East & Africa and Vice Chair of the MENAP-SMI, tells Maria Botros about the importance of prioritizing self-care in this week’s special episode of the Tell Me Why podcast.
Dr. Sawiris also emphasized the importance of incorporating self-care practices into daily routines to ensure a more preventative, rather than reactive, approach for better health.
· Dr. Sawiris: It’s not easy, but self-care is a habit that people need to develop
· Preventative measures create healthy people which means higher productivity, better economies, and saving government budgets that are going towards treating serious illnesses, says Dr. Sawiris
· Dr. Sawiris: The more we promote self-care and teach people how to take care of their health, the more we will prevent chronic diseases
· We are helping people enjoy their aging process rather than spending years managing illnesses or diseases, says Dr. Sawiris
---------------------------------------------------------------------
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Dr. Sawiris also emphasized the importance of incorporating self-care practices into daily routines to ensure a more preventative, rather than reactive, approach for better health.
· Dr. Sawiris: It’s not easy, but self-care is a habit that people need to develop
· Preventative measures create healthy people which means higher productivity, better economies, and saving government budgets that are going towards treating serious illnesses, says Dr. Sawiris
· Dr. Sawiris: The more we promote self-care and teach people how to take care of their health, the more we will prevent chronic diseases
· We are helping people enjoy their aging process rather than spending years managing illnesses or diseases, says Dr. Sawiris
---------------------------------------------------------------------
See more videos at https://gulfnews.com/videos
Read more Gulf News stories here: https://bit.ly/2HLJ2km
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00A young generation also into sports, into see the number of gyms, a lot of people are keen about
00:07healthy eating etc. So you actually, it's all coming together which is, that's what I was
00:14saying earlier, you get actually the feeling of the whole country on how people are taking care
00:19of their own health, how productive they are and all of that. So it's, and this is alien basically,
00:26this is what we're trying to do and this is what we're trying to spread in the whole
00:29Middle East and Africa region.
00:43All right, welcome to a special episode today. We are here to tell you why self-care will benefit
00:49your overall health. And joining me is Romes Sawiris who is the R&D lead for Halion Middle
00:55East and Africa and Vice Chair of the MENAP SMI, where he has played an important role in leading
01:01discussions on self-care in the region. Dr. Romes, how are you? It's lovely to have you.
01:05Very good, nice to have you as well.
01:07Now Romes, today is the second anniversary globally for the company. In July 2022,
01:13Halion was introduced as the rebrand of JSK Consumer Health and it had 100% focus on
01:20everyday health and obviously this made it a fast-moving consumer healthcare company. Now
01:26through this, Halion brings obviously with it the globally trusted science-driven brands
01:31from GSK and it's focused on empowering 50 million people annually by 2025 for better
01:40health inclusion. That's phenomenal, like that's a huge figure. Do you know that's like twice the
01:44population of Texas? I didn't know but it's great to know. Yeah, I mean that's a fascinating
01:52statistic. Furthermore, a key aspect of the movement towards better health inclusion
01:58and inclusivity is self-care, especially when we're talking about preventative rather than
02:03reactive, which we tend to lack in. I mean we always wait until it's like we're on the cusp
02:09to get the self-care that we need rather than doing it from the very start in order to prevent
02:14it. Now not so long ago, as you know, COVID hit the world. A lot of people faced restrictions in
02:21terms of like the access that they had to healthcare professionals, healthcare services
02:26and that made them take their health and their well-being into their own hands.
02:31Now taking all of that into consideration, everything I've just mentioned in the intro,
02:37can you define what self-care means and what it encompasses?
02:41So self-care, it's how the individuals are able to take care of their own health,
02:48take the responsibility, take the leadership on how to manage their own everyday health.
02:54It's more about, as you said, it's not about reacting to what's happening to your health,
03:02it's more about how to prevent it. If you look today, for example, people are living longer
03:09and people are aging, but we're actually looking on how the people are age and enjoy their health
03:16and be enjoying the life, then aging and being suffering from diseases or illnesses, etc. So
03:24self-care, it's all about how you take care of your everyday health,
03:30how every individual is different. So things should be dealt with, like I can deal with my
03:39own health, I know myself, so I can deal with my own health, see what's good for me. You should
03:44know what's good for you and should be part of your routine, everyday life is how to take care
03:50of your own health. I'm glad that you mentioned that it should be part of our daily routine
03:55because my next question is, what are some of the potential benefits that consumers or
04:01governments would experience by prioritizing self-care? It's phenomenal. If you look at the
04:10different areas where actually everyone will benefit from practicing self-care, it's actually
04:16amazing. If you look at individuals, imagine yourself, you're taking care of your own health,
04:22you're energetic, you're productive, you're actually, when you're good health as well,
04:29you spread that great vibe around you as well. For the governments, if we think today,
04:36most of the governments are under really stretched budgets. And the priority, of course,
04:42should go to people with serious illnesses or chronic illnesses. So the benefit for the
04:47governments is when they're actually part of the program of promoting self-care is,
04:52first of all, we will prevent instead of react to illnesses. So the more people get aware of
05:00how to take care of their own health, we will prevent a lot of chronic diseases.
05:06Another benefit is, imagine yourself in a country where people are healthy,
05:10that means more productivity, that means better economy for the whole country.
05:16So it's the same, if you look at countries today, actually, when you look at their economies,
05:22you look at the people, sometimes you feel it's connected, because if you're not in a good health,
05:28you're not really productive, you may have a job, but you're not really productive. So that's all
05:32impacting the whole economy of the country. Then if you as well, work more on the preventative,
05:41and make sure people are healthier, you're saving actually your government budget towards serious
05:47illnesses that may be not avoidable. So it's a win-win situation for the consumer,
05:53for the government and for the overall economy of countries. So it's really important here.
05:59Honestly, I absolutely agree with you, because I feel like the ROI for something like that
06:03is massive. As you said, it is an investment in the future. And to be honest, you seldom
06:10find countries that have that forward thinking. And we're blessed here in the UAE to have that,
06:15to have that as part of the government's vision, as part of the leader's vision.
06:19So I'm very happy that you mentioned this point. But again, we always have people in our lives
06:27nagging us, take care of yourself, trying to push us towards self-care. But contrary to these
06:34people's beliefs, self-care is not that easy. I mean, it's difficult to incorporate in your daily
06:39life. So what are some of the common challenges you find consumers have when they're trying to
06:46incorporate or prioritize self-care in their daily lives?
06:50You're absolutely right. It's not that easy. And it's more of like a habit that you need to
06:56develop. Some people are naturally taking care of their own health. Some people,
07:00they need to develop that habit. Of course, difficulties could be time, could be the cost,
07:06could be the whole pressure of everyday life. So sometimes with everyday pressure, you forget to
07:13just pause and think, what am I supposed to do to myself today to stay healthy?
07:20A lot of people are on the run. So it's with the different responsibilities as well,
07:26you find people running, running, running, and not in a healthy way.
07:31Of course. Not at the gym, you know.
07:34Sometimes I actually do running in terms of to take care of their own health. But
07:38it's running for whatever they have to do. And if everyone will pause a bit and make sure that
07:44they take care of everyday of their own health, they will be actually more productive, they will
07:49be more energetic, they will be even their whole spirit will be better even for their families.
07:57And even like if you start today, like looking at young parents, if they start to build that habits,
08:04the next generation will come with the same habits. So it's actually your it's like education.
08:10So it's actually as if you're educating even new generations to be more healthier to take
08:15care of their own health. So it's really important. But yes, it's not easy.
08:19It's not easy. And I love that you mentioned, you know, future generations, because
08:23actions do speak louder than words. And when you set the example for the generations to come,
08:29it's easier to pass down those positive habits. And obviously, with that comes
08:34Halion. And, you know, it was this, you know, this new name in the Gulf region, you know,
08:40coming in with the legacy from GSK. But it's still new, you're still introducing something,
08:47you know, to your stakeholders. So how do you bring that forth to them?
08:51So as you mentioned, Halion is coming from the legacy GSK Consumer Health. So it's not really
08:57new. It's from decades. We, the company got separated and named as Halion. We're actually
09:06celebrating two years global anniversary today. It's famous with a lot of brands that the consumer
09:15love or they use, we consider our brands, to a certain extent, household brands. We, let's say,
09:23operate in pain category, in the respiratory category, in the oral care, in the multivitamin
09:30and nutrition, etc. So some of our famous brands are probably, at least I'm using,
09:40like Panadol, like Sensodyne, and many others. And Halion actually is about delivering everyday
09:46health with humanity. So the whole self care agenda in the company started already in GSK
09:53Consumer and continue today with Halion. And this is more about how we bring new innovations,
10:00how we bring the self care agenda into countries, into partner with governments,
10:09how to help educating people about how to take care of their own health. And because we as well,
10:16like, it's in our genes, or like, let's say, in our thoughts that this is what we're trying to do
10:25as well. We'd like to spread that to everybody. So we'd like to find that people are actually
10:31taking care of their own health, be more in control of their own health, be more selective
10:38on how to take care of their own health, be able that if they cannot reach a healthcare professional,
10:44that they can actually seek the advice, maybe of a pharmacist or look on what's suitable for them
10:51and start to basically self use it. So this is more of like what we're trying to do,
10:59which is a perfect transition into what we're about to speak about next, because
11:03Halion is an advocate for self care. Globally, it wants to spread that, you know, it thinks it
11:10believes the company believes in at its core, that it's a universal right. And I actually wanted
11:17to take it further by asking, why do you think that's important in the context of this region,
11:23that self care is a universal right? I mean, if you look at the region, there are so many countries,
11:28and it's actually even a lot of countries, even that they have good economy, you know,
11:32like things are not easy. If you look at the inflation, etc. It's again, it goes back to
11:40how everybody's seen the benefit, how we become more preventative of diseases,
11:47how we are becoming more healthier in a way that again, being productive,
11:56being productive, that will impact the economy. How most of the governments in the region as well
12:02are really on overstretched budgets. And usually health is very important. So a lot of budget goes
12:10into health. So it's it would be good to at least save a lot of that budget. When when doing a lot
12:17of preventative actions by doing by taking care of everyday health. So imagine that today in
12:24countries where the budget is very stretched in a way that you cannot find enough budget to treat
12:30serious illnesses or chronic illnesses, you're going to save a lot of the budget for from the
12:36prevention. And you can allocate the budget into treating more serious diseases or people who's
12:42more serious illnesses. So it's, it's really it's, it's really beneficial. It's if you look at the
12:48overall picture, you will find out it's how important and how that should be part of the let's
12:56say the system in the country, and the legislations on how to promote that and how to
13:03put the right regulations for it and make it more like even a new law for self care.
13:10And it's also part of, there are so many links involved in that vision. I mean, one of the links
13:18is how you are, how the company is envisioning, you know, expanding that role to pharmacists when
13:23it comes to self care. So which is another step further. I mean, how are you going to collaborate
13:29with pharmacists to encourage consumers to embark on this self care journey?
13:36Yeah, I mean, pharmacists, definitely, it's very important in that journey. Because after all,
13:42if you're looking if I have been if I have a headache, if I have something that I'm not sure
13:48what it is, I think the easiest way is to consult a pharmacist, because I have a pharmacy near my
13:54house, I can just walk in, talk to the pharmacist. So we're investing a lot behind pharmacist programs
14:00as well. And how they can probably put the right advice. And they can share a lot of information
14:10about the products, the use of the products, they can ask about the symptoms, they can ask,
14:17they can even give some of the warnings that the people need to take care of while using some of
14:22the products, etc. But they're actually, I would say they get number one, for people to go and ask
14:29for a consultation, let's say, for everyday, let's say, complaints, etc. And to be honest, as well,
14:38sometimes you get into something and you don't have the time or you don't have the access,
14:43or maybe sometimes it's costly to go and visit the doctor. Yeah. And sometimes it's something
14:48very simple. So the pharmacist, he is really playing a vital role in that. Yes, they are
14:53actually I am my mother is a pharmacist, and she plays a vital role in my life when it comes to
14:58that. So I think it's very wise that you would incorporate, you know, you would collaborate
15:01with the pharmacist to spread that information. And it's key that you mentioned information at
15:07the core of anything is knowledge. Yeah. And spreading that knowledge is crucial when it
15:12comes to consumers, because with knowledge comes power. And we already know that. So what are some
15:17of the initiatives that you are going to be implementing either now or in the future to
15:23educate the public on self care? Yeah. So again, it's, it goes back to the strategy of the
15:31of the country where you're operating as well. And this is where I would say that in UAE and
15:38many other countries in the region, we established that discussion before about how we can talk to
15:44consumer more, how we can communicate with consumer, how to make that more available. So
15:51you can as a company today, we can communicate to a lot of the consumer directly, of course,
15:57with the whole guidelines that is in the country. But when you communicate, there's a lot of
16:03information the consumer is taking. And today as well with the whole social media and
16:11you name it, so the consumer is exposed to read or get the information from different
16:18in different ways. So utilizing all these assets today, and providing the right information for
16:25the consumer, it will help gradually, of course, to improve the information about products, about
16:31diseases, about illnesses, about how people can take care of their their own health. We have so
16:37many programs, and we're actually excited. So we're working on something about health literacy in
16:43general. And that's in many countries in the region. Again, we do a lot of work with pharmacists,
16:54we do a lot of campaigns about, let's say, about pain, a lot of campaigns about
17:06sports and how to take care of your own health, about
17:11healthy eating and how to develop those habits, etc. So there is a lot of going on. I think it's
17:17more about that with our second year anniversary here in the region as well, we probably want to
17:23start to do something more and to spread in more countries in the region as well.
17:26Ramiz, I know your time is precious, and you are a very, very busy man. But my last question is, what
17:33does the future hold for Halion? We believe humanity is the key to deliver everyday health.
17:38So make it more achievable, more reachable for people, more sustainable, more innovative.
17:50This is the core of our purpose, to deliver everyday health with humanity. So we're working
17:57in, like all the stakeholders in the company is working to deliver that purpose.
18:05On behalf of, let's say, R&D, which I lead, is we're looking on how to bring
18:12better innovations, how to make that accessible, hopefully at a better cost,
18:21and basically how to make it fast as well. So the world is moving too fast, and we're trying to move
18:28as fast as possible as well. So from the R&D perspective, this is what we're trying to do.
18:34And again, to deliver everyday health with humanity. I love that, because it just goes
18:39back to your vision of providing self-care as a universal right. I absolutely love that as the
18:45last message of the day. Ramesh, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Thanks a lot.