Don’t feed the ants! Prevent Diabetes.

Butra HeidelbergCement Sdn Bhd (BHC), the producer of Brunei Cement, is partnering with the Ministry of Health and MixMedia Group in a campaign to prevent diabetes before it hits.

Stuart Lee, spokesperson for Brunei Cement, said the company is celebrating its 15 years in the industry and is keen to embark on a corporate and social responsibility (CSR) initiative that highlights a current concern in the local community.

Following its successful involvement in various “green” or environmental campaigns, including sponsoring eco-clubs, Brunei Cement wanted to champion another “important” cause.

“With that, we decided to go to the Health Promotion Centre to get more information on prevention for diabetes, and this was something that we thought we could create the awareness of,” said the spokesperson.

He explained that there are two types of diabetes, Type One and Type Two. “From a non-medical point of view, I understand that the first type is hereditary and the second type is formed through an unhealthy lifestyle, which can be prevented,” he said.

The campaign’s slogan is “Prevent Diabetes: Eat Responsibly, Exercise Regularly”, Lee added.

With this slogan, both Brunei Cement and the Ministry of Health have teamed up with MixMedia Group to come up with a series of posters that is hoped to help create awareness among the local community, he explained.

“This is the first phase of the campaign which will run till November 14, which is World Diabetes Day, and we are hoping to come up with a finale for the campaign at that time,” Lee said further.

He said that this particular CSR initiative is also being disseminated throughout the Brunei Cement workforce, as the company places a lot of emphasis on health, safety and environment (HSE).

Shahiran Sheriffuddin Shahrani Muhammad, Health Facilitating Officer from the Health Promotion Centre, said that the organisation was “very happy” when it was approached by Brunei Cement to create the diabetes awareness campaign.

“We were told that Brunei Cement had heard from a well-known blogger about this centre and that they wanted to help,” said Shahiran.

In terms of the support that the Ministry of Health is providing, Shahiran said that the Health Promotion Centre helped Brunei Cement to “set the tone of the campaign, redirected them to a target audience” and so on.

Shahiran also said that the posters created by MixMedia Group will probably change the way health posters are designed in Brunei.

He added that through both MixMedia Group and Brunei Cement, the Health Promotion Centre will be raising the standard on how they market themselves for future campaigns.

Asked about how partnering with a company in the private sector helps to create the awareness of certain government campaigns, Shahiran explained that the partnership helps to provide exposure to more platforms and “channels” than if they were to spread the word by themselves.

“We hope to be in this campaign for the long run, and after that we would analyse and see how successful we were and how to readjust our strategy, but hopefully this will continue to be part of our CSR initiatives in years to come,” said Lee.