WORLD AIDS DAY-KENYA: Many Firms Still Ignoring the Bottom Line on HIV

Kwamboka Oyaro

NAIROBI, Nov 30 2007 (IPS) – HIV/AIDS cuts workers down in their prime, taking to the grave a wealth of training and experience that companies can ill afford to lose. Lower productivity, absenteeism from work and increased medical bills exact a further toll on the private sector all of which begs the question: are employers being sufficiently active in helping to fight AIDS?
In Kenya, the picture is mixed.

Only about 20 percent of companies mostly large firms are tackling AIDS in the workplace, said Titus Ruhiu, chief executive officer of the National Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The remaining 80 percent have nothing tangible to speak of, he told IPS.

This situation is not for want of guidance in the East African country, where adult HIV prevalence is put at 6.1 percent, according to the website of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The Federation of Kenya Employers, authorised by government to lead the fight against AIDS in the workplace, has drawn up a code of conduct concerning the pandemic.

This requires employers to provide information on HIV/AIDS to workers and uphold the human rights of HIV positive employees, ensuring that those who have contracted the virus are not discriminated against. It is difficult to get a sense of how many workers may have been sacked because of their status: there are no statistics on this matter, said Caroline Kasina programme co-ordinator at the Labour Awareness and Resource Programme, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Nairobi as people are hesitant to come out for fear of further stigmatisation .
Even when policies are in place, there is no guarantee they ll be properly implemented.

Some workplace policies look good on paper, but they are hardly worker-friendly. In some cases, employees don t even know such policies exist, Kasina told IPS.

In certain instances, where treatment is also made available, Simple things like privacy are not taken into account when a company sets aside a specific day and time (for workers) to collect medicine, she added. Those who haven t come out (regarding their status) will not go for it, for fear of stigma if seen by colleagues.

On a more positive note, some companies have heeded the need for discretion, even ensuring that HIV positive employees who receive treatment are identified by numbers rather than names.

In addition, the Central Organisation of Trade Unions has joined forces with the private sector and government to ensure that employees also employers are not discriminated against because of their HIV status.

We have lost many workers to AIDS. Many more are affected. The unions cannot afford to sit back and watch, George Odiko, assistant secretary-general of the umbrella body, told IPS.

Under this initiative, workers receive education about their rights through what are termed study circles : union leaders in various businesses are provided with information about the pandemic, and they then share this knowledge with their colleagues. The leaders try to ensure that they talk, and provide encouragement, to infected workers.

Kenyan business heads have also assisted in an HIV counseling and testing week that got underway Nov. 26 and ends Dec. 1, World AIDS Day.

For 2007, the day is serving to highlight the role of leadership in helping to Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise . This overarching slogan has been adopted for World AIDS Day from 2005 to 2010 by the World AIDS Campaign (WAC), to push leaders to uphold their pledges concerning the pandemic including the 2005 commitment by U.N. member nations to aim for universal access to treatment by 2010.

Initially managed by UNAIDS, the WAC is now an independent NGO. The campaign is responsible for choosing the World AIDS Day theme.

Leadership in bringing the pandemic under control is not only seen as a governmental responsibility.

Sustaining leadership and accelerating action on AIDS isn t something just for politicians. It involves religious leaders, community, youth and council leaders, chief executives and trade union leaders, notes UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot in his message for World AIDS Day.

More than 2.5 million people in developing countries are now receiving life-lengthening antiretroviral drugs. HIV infections, in many countries, are declining. The challenge now is sustain this leadership, to keep AIDS at the top of the agenda, and to accelerate action at national and local level. Any slackening of leadership would be fatal.

These sentiments are echoed in the World AIDS Day statement of Juan Somavia, director-general of the International Labour Organisation.

The workplace is a vital channel for fighting stigma, promoting prevention, reaching out to provide care and support, he says.

More than 60 percent of all people who have contracted the HI virus almost 26 million live in sub-Saharan Africa, according to UNAIDS.

This is vastly out of proportion to the percentage of the world s population housed in the region: about 10 percent.