AirAsia Foundation explores the social enterprise

Source: AirAsia Foundation website.

This November 7, the AirAsia Foundation will be holding a social enterprise-related conference and marketplace at Nexus Bangsar South, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Destination: Good – ASEAN Social Enterprise 2015 is the first public event organised by AirAsia Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AirAsia group, to kickstart a conversation on how big businesses and social enterprises can play a role in building equitable, sustainable and inclusive economies.

Panelists at the conference include AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandez as well as Richard Eu, Group CEO of Eu Yan Sang International, Vichien Phongsathorn, Group CEO of the Premier Group of Companies and Enrique Razon Jr, Chairman and CEO of Manila's International Container Services.

The marketplace will feature 30 top ASEAN social enterprises, such as Bettr Barista Coffee Academy, the Rags2Riches and traditional art performers from Cambodia Living Arts.

Interested?

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Roxy Charity Car Wash, Roxy Charity Bazaar to be held at Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy

Get some colleagues together and express support for the needy through the Roxy Charity Car Wash on 15 May 2015, which is in its 8th year at the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy. 

The 7th Roxy Charity Car Wash was a resounding success. In May 2014, the management and staff at Roxy-Pacific & Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel ran a charity car wash at the hotel's driveway. Together with Tan Chuan Jin, Minister of Manpower and Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC, and the Marine Parade Citizens' Consultative Committee, S$113,000 was raised through this activity with the support from business associates and members of the public. 

Together with sponsors, the car wash aims to raise funds for the recently-launched Roxy Foundation that will be distributed to NGOs, voluntary welfare organisations (VWOs) and schools.

The car wash will be held on 15 May from 10 am to 6 pm, with the goal of raising S$100,000 for the Roxy Foundation, which was set up in February 2015 by Roxy-Pacific Holdings, a property and hospitality group and owner of the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy. Roxy-Pacific Holdings will contribute S$60,000 for the event. 

Lim Biow Chuan, MP for Mountbatten single member constitutency (SMC), is to be the Guest of Honour and will wash the car of the person with the highest donation, together with the Directors of Roxy Pacific Holdings and General Managers of Accor Singapore Hotels. Grand Mercure Roxy Singapore is managed by Accor.

Needy families, sponsors and VIPS will also be invited to the Children Are Our Hope For the Future 2015 dinner on 28 May 2015 that will also be hosted at the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy, with Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong as guest of honour.

Up to 100 children from low income families living around the community will each receive S$300 from the money raised in the form of vouchers. Fifteen students from Nanyang Polytechnic will receive tuition fee grants of S$1,000 each that will go towards their tertiary education tuition fees.

“It is great to engage with the community and giving back by raising funds for the underprivileged through the annual charity drive here at Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy,” said Klaus Gottschalk, General Manager of Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy.

The car wash is mainly organised by Roxy Pacific Holdings, Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy and the Marine Parade Citizens Consultative Committee and supported by Accor Asia Pacific and five of its Singapore hotels - Novotel Singapore Clarke Quay, Ibis Singapore on Bencoolen, Ibis Singapore on Novena, Sofitel So Singapore and The Singapore Resort and Spa Sentosa. 

The car wash is followed by the Roxy Charity Bazaar on 16 May. Approximately 20 vendors will donate new and pre-loved items to be sold at the Roxy Charity Bazaar, which will be open at the Grand Mercure Singapore Roxy from 10 am to 6 pm. A full 100% of the sales will go directly to the Roxy Foundation. 

The organisers of the Bazaar hope to create awareness and encourage philanthropy by donating and selling items and also through the arts. Visitors will be able to buy one-of-a-kind art pieces and pottery owned by local potters, refurbished clothes, bags and accessories, jewellery as well as household items.

Local potter Mark Lee said, “It is heart-warming to see people come forward to support this Bazaar by donating items that are very dear to them.”

Please call +65 6344 8000 to ask about the Bazaar, or email H3610-SL15@accor.com. Admission is free.

Accor brands include luxury-upscale Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery and Grand Mercure, The Sebel; midscale Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure and Adagio; and economy ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget, adagio access and hotelF1. 

Abbott brings Freestyle Libre Pro System for glucose monitoring to India

The prevalence of type II diabetes is increasing in young adults in Asia, according to research from the Asia Diabetes Foundation (ADF). The ADF has funded research* together with Merck showing that 18% of the people recruited into its Joint Asia Diabetes Evaluation (JADE) study from nine Asian countries and territories were under the age of 40 when they were diagnosed with diabetes, a condition called young-onset diabetes.

While Merck offers a drug called Janumet XR to address type II diabetes, Abbott is tackling the treatment of the disease with a wearable that offers doctors more insights into patients' blood glucose levels over the long term.

Source: Abbott website. The FreeStyle Libre System at work. The FreeStyle Libre Pro System is designed to be used by healthcare professionals, rather than by patients themselves.

"India now carries 20% of the global burden of diabetes," said Robert Ford, Senior VP, Diabetes Care, Abbott. "There is an immense need for people in India to better manage their diabetes, enabling them to live healthier lives. Abbott's FreeStyle Libre Pro System is designed to empower doctors in India to help their patients through rich data and actionable insights."

The FreeStyle Libre Pro Flash Glucose Monitoring System consists of a small, round sensor—slightly larger than a 10 rupee coin (the size of a US quarter). A healthcare professional applies the sensor on the back of the patient's upper arm. The sensor is held in place with a self-adhesive pad and remains on the back of the arm for up to 14 days, requiring no patient interaction.

When applied to the skin, the sensor continuously measures glucose in interstitial fluid through a small (5mm long, 0.4mm wide) filament that is inserted just under the skin. It records glucose levels every 15 minutes, capturing up to 1,340 glucose results over 14 days, giving doctors comprehensive data for a complete glycemic profile of their patients. After 14 days, the person returns to the doctor's office, where the doctor uses a FreeStyle Libre Pro reader device to download the glucose results that are stored in the sensor in as quickly as five seconds.

"Diabetes is already at epidemic proportions and there is an urgent need to manage it better," said Dr V Mohan, Director and Chief of Diabetes Research at Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. "Current diabetes monitoring tools are limiting for doctors because they don't reveal a complete picture of the glucose variability that a person goes through during a day. The revolutionary flash glucose monitoring system will be very useful for doctors in getting complete glucose profiles of their patients. This will help us in our clinical decision making as well as in personalising treatment plans for better outcomes."

"Current systems for continuous measurement of glucose are cumbersome and require regular finger-pricking to ensure they are calibrated correctly for accuracy," said Jared Watkin, Divisional VP, Technical Operations, Diabetes Care, Abbott. "Based on insights from our customers, the focus for our design team has been to innovate for these challenges, while also providing affordability. We're proud that FreeStyle Libre Pro System achieves that for people with diabetes."

Abbott's FreeStyle Libre Pro system will be available to doctors in coming weeks in six Indian cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Pune and Trivandrum.

According to the International Diabetes Federation, India today has a diabetes population of 65.1 million compared to 50.8 million in 2010**. A recent survey conducted by the Association of Physicians of India (API) and sponsored by Abbott*** showed that 90% of people surveyed with uncontrolled diabetes in India, defined as HbA1c levels higher than 7%, continue to believe that they have control over their glucose levels, despite facts suggesting otherwise. 

The Diabetic Society of Singapore has estimated that over 400,000 people or 11.3% of the population suffer from diabetes, while Singapore's Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has found that two-thirds of its diabetes patients under 30 have the type II form. 

*Metabolic profiles and treatment gaps in young-onset type 2 diabetes in Asia (the JADE programme): a cross-sectional study of a prospective cohort, The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, e-publication July 2014, print publication December 2014.

**http://www.idf.org/BRIDGES/map/india

***The Abbott Sugar Survey, February 2015