Small firms own up to HIV/AIDS impact

Grant Thornton International (GTI), a consultancy firm, has found that small and mid-sized South African companies are viewing HIV/AIDS more seriously than a year ago.

Of the 300 respondents in GTI's '2006 International Business Owners Survey', some 35 percent considered AIDS a "serious constraint" to business over the next five years, up from 26 percent a year ago.

The study of randomly selected companies with between 50 and 250 employees also found that 35 percent of firms were now prepared to pay for treatment for their HIV-positive employees, a marked increase on last year's 22 percent.

Lee-Anne Bac, a GTI director, told the local Business Day newspaper, "Companies are becoming more proactive and have put interventions in place."

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