HIV/AIDS: Unseen terrorist in the workplace

Involvement and support by the business sector in the Philippines towards HIV/AIDS awareness continues to be limited, often stymied by the question: why should we?

To give impetus to the drive to expand the participation of the local business community, UNAIDS recently appointed Oscar Reyes as UNAIDS goodwill ambassador. The mandate of Ambassador Reyes, who was formerly country chairman of Shell companies in the Philippines, includes engaging the broader business community in a national campaign for HIV/AIDS prevention, control and care.

In a speech recently delivered before senior health officials headed by Secretary Manuel Dayrit and members of the diplomatic corps, Reyes reminded the group that "well before the unimaginable events of 9/11 where some 3,000 people perished, the world had been confronted with, and continues to struggle against another form of terrorism – an enemy unseen claiming significantly more lives... the terrorism of the HIV/AIDS epidemic."

Based on local statistics, already 85 percent of recorded HIV infections as of June 2002 were found to be among people aged 20 to 49, or belonging to the most economically active segment of the population. Twenty-eight percent of reported cases were attributed to the seven million-strong migrant workers force.

While this level still remains low compared to other stricken countries, experience shows that left unattended, numbers can easily grow to epidemic proportions.

For example, in Botswana, some 35 percent of adults are already infected with HIV. As of end of 2000, the total number of Africans living with HIV or AIDS was at 25.3 million. The business impact of this affliction in that part of the world has definitely crippled its economies.

Sustaining early initiatives

The first reported AIDS case in the Philippines was in 1984, leading government to immediately come up with a national AIDS prevention and control program and an HIV/AIDS register to monitor incidences in the country.

Sectors that were tagged as most at risk during the early years were sex workers, the gay community and injected drug abusers. Various non-government organizations – and even religious groups – were among the swiftest and earliest to respond in providing support to those infected, and to launch information and education campaigns on safe sex.

As more data was gathered, the overseas labor force – especially women who make up two-thirds of the estimated seven million overseas workers – was also seen to be at risk. About one-third of today’s recorded HIV cases are known to have come from this sector.

The migrant population composed of seafarers, long-distance truck drivers, sales people, domestic helpers are also equally susceptible to infections. Recently, trade unions adopted a more pro-active stance by initiating information and education sessions with their key leaders. Some unions are now including in their CBA negotiations the provision of free condom supplies as added benefits from their employers.

Workplace, a vulnerable target

As the race against HIV and AIDS intensifies, the workplace was seen as a source of accurate information on the illness. "It makes sense to invest in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support programs," says Reyes. Awareness and prevention programs in the workplace would be the best-organized option that could produce long-lasting effects.

In the Philippines, though, there are still very few companies who have any comprehensive package on HIV/AIDS prevention and care despite the passage of an AIDS law in 1998. And many of them, like Pilipinas Shell and Levi Strauss, are multinationals that have similar programs on a global perspective.

The involvement of local business in HIV/AIDS workplace initiative is still largely confined to prevention and awareness programs. These come in the form of HIV/AIDS education being integrated into the orientation, training, continuing education and other human resource development programs.

While education is an important program component, attention should be devoted to establishing within the company non-discriminatory policies that protect and encourage employees to avail of testing and treatment without fear of ostracism or management action.

Employers often are the tougher customers in supporting HIV/AIDS workplace programs. Firstly, there is an attitude problem traceable to a frame of mind that denies the plausibility that the dreaded infection could actually be on their shop floor.

Employers argue about investing in the program especially if the public health system has similar initiatives. Often, businesses say that HIV/AIDS prevention should be government’s responsibility.

Which is why some companies such as DaimlerChrysler, together with the employee trade unions and NGOs, undertook studies that ultimately showed that averting one new HIV infection can save as much as three to four annual salaries.

Furthermore, their analysis projected a 26-percent prevalence rate by 2005 should there be a continued absence in interventions. British Petroleum, for example, found that failing to introduce antiretroviral therapy would cost the company approximately $1.5 million a year, with an additional 59 staff members dying annually from AIDS-related illnesses.

Despite all these data, Oscar Reyes faces a formidable challenge in the country in engaging the business community to intensify awareness, advocacy, and social and resource mobilization efforts in the national HIV/AIDS prevention, control and care. He admits that "HIV/AIDS is not in the radar screen of many in our society."

In other parts of the world where the infection has reached crisis levels, massive corporate responses are now being undertaken. More and more, the business impact of AIDS is already being felt not only on the particular company’s bottom line, but also on the overall economic well-being of the country. But for many of these companies, responding may well be too late.

Let’s not be complacent and quibble on the costs of ensuring that our workplace is safe. At this point in our nation’s history, what with terrorism, kidnappings, corruption, and other urban banes, the last thing we need is an invasion of HIV/AIDS.

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"Isyung kalakalan at iba pa" on IBC-13 News (5 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., Monday to Friday) tackles the problems confronting credit card users in the Philippines today. Watch it.

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