by Petronella Mugoni – SANF 04 no 68
An International Labour Organisation (ILO) report, HIV/AIDS and Work, presented at the 15th International AIDS Conference held from 11-16 July in Bangkok, Thailand, states that globally, 26 million of the 35.7 million people estimated to be HIV-positive, are workers, and as such the workplace should play a bigger role in intervention.
The ILO Code of Practice on HIV and AIDS, adopted in 2001 in response to the HIV epidemic, maintains that HIV and AIDS is a workplace issue, not only because it affects the workforce, but also because the workplace can and should play an active role in limiting the spread and effects of the virus.
“The workplace is an ideal medium for a comprehensive approach to HIV and AIDS. Work provides a venue – the workplace – where talking about HIV and AIDS is especially relevant, where prevention skills can be directly transmitted; and where treatment can be exceptionally productive,” notes the ILO.
In southern Africa, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Code on HIV and AIDS and Employment, provides guidelines for national implementation.
The code spells out rights and responsibilities in relation to prevention and management of the epidemic in the workplace, including prohibiting pre-employment testing for HIV, guaranteeing confidentiality and stating that HIV alone is not a cause for termination, transfer or refusal of promotion.
Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have developed employment guidelines to assist businesses and state corporations based on the regional code.
In Zimbabwe, a 1998 Statutory Instrument prescribes that employers in both the private and public sectors should provide education and information on safe sex, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV and AIDS transmission and prevention, as well as counselling services.
Namibia’s guidelines contained within its National Code on HIV and AIDS in Employment, seek to harmonise national practices, advocating for the joint development and implementation of information, education and prevention programmes by both employers and employees.
Malawi launched in 1999 the National Strategic Framework for HIV and AIDS 2000-2004, as well as a Workplace and Education Programme aimed at containing the spread of the virus and developing an HIV and AIDS Policy and Code of Conduct within a legal framework.
Malawi’s programmes are informed by the understanding that the majority of formal sector employees are men, who traditionally influence sexual matters, making the workplace the perfect forum to target HIV prevention through education and training.
Southern Africa has an estimated 10 million HIV infected people between the ages of 15-49. Projections are that the region will face losses of up to 56 percent of annual profits for selected companies while some of the hardest hit countries may forfeit two percent or more of Gross Domestic Product growth per year due to the epidemic.
The business sector is however, well positioned to influence employee attitudes and behaviour and to provide clinical services to contain the spread of HIV. Workplaces offer structured environments for information sharing, with safety or technical briefings and new employee induction programmes presenting good opportunities to provide staff with education.
The epidemic’s toll on the employment sector in the form of loss of productivity, loss of investment in trained personnel, increased expenditure on health and death benefits as well as shortages of key human resources, negatively impact on development gains. This also undermines efforts to reduce poverty.
Notwithstanding international, regional and national guidelines, few organisations in the region implement programmes that adhere to recommended standards of prevention and mitigation in the workplace. Inadequate knowledge of guidelines and legislation by both employers and employees has resulted in very little implementation.
If the Millennium Development Goals target of “halting new HIV infections and reversing the spread of HIV and AIDS by 2015” is to be met, mitigation and prevention efforts need to be stepped up.
The ILO notes that there may be problems of implementation in the informal economy and among small and medium sized enterprises, thus they advocate the integration of the Code into national strategies and action plans to ensure that the burden does not fall entirely on the employer.
The ILO does not only highlight the dramatic impact of HIV on the labour force and the economy, it also stresses that the workplace holds extraordinary potential as part of the solution.
(SARDC)
