Too little, too late: Corporate indifference to HIV/AIDS

A global survey on the impact of HIV/AIDS widespread corporate indifference and that businesses rarely draw up written policies to address the disease until 20 percent of the country’s population is infected. The study, “Business and HIV/AIDS: Commitment and Action?” was jointly published  by the Global Health Initiative (GHI) of the World Economic Forum, Harvard School of Public Health and UNAIDS, after a survey of almost 9,000 business leaders in 104 countries. “Too few countries are responding proactively to the social and business threats of HIV/AIDS,” said Dr Kate Taylor, director of the World Economic Forum’s GHI.

She said this was true of countries with very high and with low, but rising levels of HIV. Given the potential benefits of putting programmes in place to address the disease, “This is clearly a case of ‘too little, too late.’” Angela Lee Loy, Chairperson of the National Aids Coordinating Committee said, as far as she was concerned, the business community in Trinidad and Tobago is very supportive of plans to deal with HIV/Aids in the work place. A press statement from the World Economic Forum stated that, despite the fact that 14,000 people contract HIV/AIDS every day, concern among businesses has dropped by 23 percent in the last 12 months with most companies (71 percent) having no policies in place to address the disease.  

More than 65 percent of the global business leaders surveyed could not say or estimate the prevalence of HIV within their own workforce. Kathleen Cravero, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, said, “As a global community, every level of society needs too be mindful of what they can do to contribute to an effective response to HIV/AIDS.” She hoped more businesses would be more proactively involved in issues such as AIDS because it was not just about social responsibility. “It is also a good investment,” she said. Anglo American, an international mining and natural resources company, estimates an HIV prevalence rate of 24 percent in its over 130,000 Southern African workforce.

Over the past 20 years the company has implemented extensive voluntary counselling and testing for HIV infection and antiretroviral therapy for employees progressing to AIDS. More than 90 percent of the 2,200 employees who have accessed and remained on treatment are well and have returned to the normal workforce. “The report shows widespread corporate indifference to the impact of AIDS on their businesses. Our growing experience shows that effective action on HIV/AIDS is synonymous with good business management and leads to more profitable and sustainable operations,” said Brian Brink, senior vice-president of health at Anglo American Corporation. He said companies should encourage all workers to know their HIV status and make it as routine as monitoring blood pressure or cholesterol. Brink said access to treatment was also critical. Even in African countries with an HIV prevalence as high as 19 percent, only seven percent of companies have formal HIV/AIDS policies in place.

The report found even greater gaps between prevalence and policies in China, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Russia. These countries have been predicted to experience the highest numbers of new HIV/AIDS cases worldwide by 2010. “The survey adds an important building block to our understanding of how the business community is experiencing the HIV/Aids epidemic and how it is reacting,” said David Bloom, Professor of Econ-omics and Demography at the Harvard School of Public Health. The report concludes with recommendations that businesses need to better understand their risk exposure and learn to mange them from local good practices. A key priority in both high and low-prevalence settings, is to establish a policy based on non-discrimination and confidentiality.