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CEOs must get involved personally in fight
The Star. 27 November 2002. Republished courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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The United Nations says South Africa has the most people living with HIV/AIDS in the world.
There are about 1 800 new infections each day in South Africa and sub-Saharan Africa accounts for around 70% of global HIV/AIDS infections. And companies in South Africa could lose up to 15% of annual profits to HIV/AIDS by 2008.
Clearly, HIV/AIDS is everybody's business, not just a socio-economic problem to be addressed by government and big business. The SA Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (Sabcoha) survey released in May found that big business is taking steps to manage HIV/AIDS in the workplace.
But the survey statistics for the medium and small business sectors pose a stark contrast. In medium-sized corporates (100 to 500 employees), the Sabcoha Survey statistics indicate that, of the 29 companies that participated in the survey: 15 have a formal HIV/AIDS policy; 10 companies have a policy that has been communicated to employees; one company has anonymous blood screening; 27,6% of companies are managing the infected/affected; and 72,4% (or 21 companies) are implementing awareness/education programmes.
BIC South Africa has a formal HIV/AIDS policy in place and funds anti-retroviral drugs for HIV-positive staff. And it took steps in this direction before the release of the Sabcoha survey in May 2002.
"For us, the implementation of a formal HIV/AIDS programme in the workplace is a top priority," says BIC South Africa managing director, Errol Sackstein.
"We are doing this, not because of the potential impact of HIV/AIDS on our bottom line, but rather as our commitment and investment in our staff. Many of our people have been with us for a long time and this is an opportunity for us to demonstrate our commitment to our people in a tangible and important way."
The Sabcoha survey reveals that very few companies have done risk assessments or knowledge, attitude and practices studies, and that most companies treat HIV/AIDS as a soft issue. In the survey, Sabcoha board member Clem Sunter says the HIV/AIDS issue should be handled at CEO level, not just the human resources department.
In media reports, blue-chip corporates such as Anglo, De Beers, BP South Africa and BMW South Africa have come out to showcase their commitment to managing HIV/AIDS in the workplace, including for example providing anti-retroviral drugs to HIV-positive staff.
BIC South Africa is currently in the process of finalising the development and implementation of its HIV/AIDS Programme, which includes education, awareness, counselling, testing and the provision of free anti-retroviral drugs.
HIV/AIDS is high on the BIC agenda, and is part of the company's business strategy and objectives. Not only is BIC the only company of its size to provide anti-retroviral drugs free to staff, but it is one of a notable minority to have formally addressed HIV/AIDS in the workplace through the development and implementation of a formal programme.
"We are following a top-down approach and HIV/AIDS is high on our agenda," says Sackstein. "While our HIV/AIDS strategy focuses on care and medication for the infected/affected, equally important is to keep our staff healthy and HIV negative.
"Our key driver is therefore education and awareness. We can only help our staff if they know their HIV/AIDS status and, following the education and awareness workshop, we commenced with an educational drive to encourage staff to become aware of their status through testing," he said.
The BIC HIV/AIDS programme is an inspiration to medium and small companies in South Africa and a case study of the role that the medium and small business can play in managing HIV/AIDS.
BIC has already been invited to present its HIV/AIDS policy as a case study by a few companies, including large corporates, which are looking into developing and implementing a similar programme. |
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