On the occasion of the first European Obesity day marked on the 22^nd May 2010, Middlesea Insurance organized a Health seminar on the subject which was well attended by members of the public. The guest speaker for this event was Heart Surgeon Mr Alex Manche’

The seminar was opened by Ms Anne Marie Tabone, Chief Operations Officer. Ms Tabone said that Middlesea is committed to provide added value to individuals and employers through the delivery of educational seminars. Such events provide greater awareness of risk factors and also provide an insight into risk mitigating measures to be undertaken in one’s daily life. She also pointed out that Middlesea is committed to provide its current policyholders as well the Maltese community with quality insurance policies to enable the transfer of risk from the individual or entity to the insurance carrier and provide peace of mind.

Mr Simon Anastasi, Chief Officer responsible for Business development and Health delivered a presentation on the importance one should give to his/her own health and the importance the employer should give to the health of their employees.  He also stated that only around 23% of the Maltese population is insured, the majority of these have basic employee paid health insurance scheme. He also encouraged employers to seek to improve the level of company paid health insurance benefits allowed to their workforce.

Mr Anastasi announced that all Middlesea levels of cover have been enhanced to reflect changes in medical costs and claiming patterns.  He presented a new Middlesea health Scheme earmarked for Company Schemes. This Scheme named as the ‘Middlesea Intermediate Health Scheme’ is intended to entice employers to upgrade the level of cover allowed to their employees. 

During his presentation Mr Manche’ highlighted the fact that obesity reduces life span, and is associated with many conditions that affect quality of life adversely. He talked about the classification of obesity, and the different types, that is, the android and gynoid, more commonly known as the ‘apple’ and ‘pear’ type of obesity. Simple methods to calculate weight status include BMI (Body Mass Index) measurements were recommended.. The obesity problem in Malta is a great one. In a study carried out in 2007 Maltese males fared as the most obese persons in Europe and females placed third in the Obesity classification within European countries. Mr Manche’ also stressed the  importance of addressing childhood obesity as early as possible in order to avoid significant health problems in the future.

Whilst blending in reference to famous works of arts Mr Manche’ explained the history of obesity with special attention to the metabolic syndrome and the more common modern mediators in obesity such as adipokines, NPY, and cortisol. 

The Seminar was also co hosted by Flora who distributed health promotional products  and Flora pro.activ magazines.  Flora pro.activ is a cholesterol lowering brand, and clinically proven to significantly lower cholesterol. The plant sterols in Flora pro.activ can reduce bad LDL-cholesterol by up to 15% as part of a healthier diet. It can be included in ones every day diet through consumption of Flora pro.activ spread, milk and most recently mini drinks in three different flavours.

In its commitment to provide added value to its insurance products and also due to the overwhelming response from the public, Middlesea said it will continue to hold educational similar events in the near future

Middlesea Insurance p.l.c. (C-5553) is authorised by the Malta Financial Services Authority to carry on both Long Term and General Business under the Insurance Business Act, 1998 COM 030610444