HIV/AIDS Initiative June Newsletter | HIV/AIDS Initiative September Newsletter

 “Join me in speaking up loud and clear about HIV/AIDS.  Join me in tearing down the walls of silence and discrimination that surround the epidemic”.  Koffi Annan, World AIDS Day 2003, New York.

HIV/AIDS Statistics:

 §          Worldwide, to date, 40 million people are infected with HIV, and 20 million people have died from HIV/AIDS.

 §          Sub Saharan Africa is home to only 11 percent of the world’s population, yet it is the region worst affected by HIV/AIDS: 70 percent of all people infected with HIV/AIDS live in Sub Saharan Africa.

 §          In 2003 alone, there were 3 million deaths from AIDS, 75% of which were in Sub Saharan Africa.  Five million people were newly infected, and Sub Saharan Africa was home to 3.2 million of these new infections. 

§          Ninety percent of the 40 million people who are living with HIV/AIDS are in their prime productive and reproductive years (15-49). 

§          Young people between the ages of 15-24 account for 42 percent of new HIV infections and represent almost one third of the people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.  Every day, 7,000 young people under the age of 25 contract HIV.

§          Globally, 14 million children have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS. By 2010, the number of children orphaned by AIDS is predicted to rise to close to 25 million. 

§          Statistics are based on 2003 data from UNAIDS and the International Labour Office (ILO)

HIV/AIDS as a Business Issue

“The business sector, through its workforce, its ability to advocate at the highest levels of government, and its economic ties to both donor countries and those hardest-hit by AIDS, has the unparalleled opportunity to change the course of the epidemic for individuals and families, communities and even nations.  The fight against AIDS cannot be won without it.” Excerpt from an article by Peter Piot in the 2003 December/January issue of CCA’s Africa Journal.

§          HIV/AIDS is a serious threat to the economic productivity and profitability of nations with high infection rates as well as to the global economy as a whole.  The disease attacks the younger population the hardest, and the loss of trained and skilled workers in the prime of their productive lives has severe economic impacts on business and development.

§          In 2002, USAID reported that by 2010 life expectancy in eleven Sub Saharan African countries would fall to 30 years.  By 2010, without the presence of HIV/AIDS, the projected life expectancy in these countries would have been near 70 years.

§          In 2000, the World Bank declared HIV/AIDS to be not only a health problem, but also a development crisis, jeopardizing human welfare and socio-economic advancement and having degenerative effects on societal structure, production capacity and even national security.

·        ”When you have some countries, as we do have in Africa, with an infection rate that is over 30 percent and the average life expectancy is dropping by a decade every few years, HIV/AIDS is more than a health crisis; it is a national security crisis, it is a crisis of whether or not these countries can remain viable”.  A statement from Colin Powell found on AllAfrica.com. Posted to the web November 18, 2003 Washington, DC

§          The World Bank estimates that per capita growth in most parts of Sub Saharan Africa is falling by 0.5 percent to 1.2 percent each year as a direct result of HIV/AIDS.  It is estimated that by 2010 per capita GDP in some of the African countries hardest hit by the pandemic may drop by 8 percent, and per capita consumption may fall even more.

§          In 2001, HIV/AIDS had reduced the labor force in Africa by approximately 20 percent.  By 2020, the size of the labor force will be 10 percent to 30 percent smaller than it would have been without HIV/AIDS in Sub Saharan African countries with high rates of seroprevalence.

HIV/AIDS in the workplace results in:

• Increased business costs                      

• Decreased productivity
• Increased absenteeism
• Labor turnover
• Loss of experienced personnel
• Decline in worker morale
• Increased company health care costs
• Higher costs of death benefits
• Greater recruitment, training and retraining costs
• Increased costs for health, life and safety insurance coverage

It is in the self-interest of companies, and an example of good corporate citizenship, to develop HIV/AIDS workplace policies and programs; to assist in the provision of treatment for opportunistic infections; and, in cases where low cost HIV/AIDS medications are available, to aid in the distribution of anti-retroviral treatment for those living with HIV/AIDS.

The private sector has recognized the pandemic’s implications on the global economy and on global security and has become more aggressively involved in the fight.

CCA’s HIV/AIDS INITIATIVE PROGRAMS 

CCA’s HIV/AIDS Initiative Programs, funded by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (found on the web at www.gatesfoundation.org), addresses issues faced by businesses with operations in Africa and seeks to increase corporate involvement in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  Over the grant’s three-year duration, CCA will work with each of its corporate members invested in Africa to establish effective HIV/AIDS policies and programs in the workplace. 

CCA’s HIV/AIDS Initiative Programs will focus on the following areas:

• The design, development and implementation of HIV/AIDS workplace policies and prevention education programs for CCA member corporations, their workforce and the families of the employees.
• Enhancing member company participation in developing national HIV/AIDS plans and collaboration with African national commissions on HIV/AIDS issues.
• Increasing corporate partnerships in the financing of effective HIV/AIDS programs and institutions addressing the crisis.
• The formation of a CCA HIV/AIDS Advisory Council to work with members to develop strategies and review progress.

Press Release:

CDC Official to Head CCA’s HIV/AIDS Initiative Team
Thursday, December 11, 2003 
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sonya Penn
Telephone: (202) 263-3515
Email: Spenn@africacncl.org

WASHINGTON, DC – The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA) announced this week the hiring of Victor Barnes as Director of CCA’s HIV/AIDS Initiative programs.  CCA recently received an $875,000 grant from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to strengthen U.S. corporate involvement in the battle against HIV/AIDS in Africa.  Through the grant’s funds, CCA will work with corporations, helping them to institutionalize the most effective HIV/AIDS business plans and policies.

Mr. Barnes has a long career in HIV/AIDS and related healthcare issues.  Since 1997, he has worked for The National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, a part of the Center for Disease Control, in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was named the Deputy Director of The Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention in 1999.  This year Barnes became the Associate Director for External Relations in the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.  Among his responsibilities has been the leadership of the Business Responds to AIDS Partnership, a public-private partnership initiated in 1992 to engage the U.S. private sector in HIV/AIDS prevention in the U.S. and abroad. 

Mr. Barnes began his federal government experience at the Department of State in Washington, D.C. as a development officer for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). After twelve years, serving primarily in sub-Saharan Africa as a human resource officer, Mr. Barnes joined the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention at USAID. He began his HIV/AIDS prevention work overseeing the USAID HIV prevention program, which provided funding and technical assistance to 35 countries to develop and implement HIV prevention programs. He remained with that program for seven years, eventually becoming the Acting Chief of the Division.

CCA President Stephen Hayes expressed his enthusiasm about Mr. Barnes as an addition to the CCA team, “Victor was hired after a long and competitive search.  His selection gives us qualified senior leadership and experience that will make a difference for the corporate sector as it begins to focus on how best to develop trade and investment in Africa while fighting this disease.”

Mr. Barnes holds degrees in African area studies and French language and literature and a PhD in International development education.  He speaks both French and Swahili.

THE COALITION FOR AIDS RELIEF IN AFRICA (CARA)

The Coalition for AIDS Relief in Africa (CARA), a 501(c)(4) affiliate organization of CCA, built a strong and cohesive coalition of corporations, associations and individuals to lobby the U.S. Congress for the passage of $15 billion for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Africa and the Caribbean.

Additional Resources:

www.unaids.org | www.gatesfoundation.org | www.who.org |

www.worldbank.org | www.whitehouse.gov | www.state.gov |

www.ifc.org/ifcagainstaids | www.HIVatwork.org | www.fhi.org |

www.aed.org | www.tfgi.com | www.ilo.org

The Policy Project’s HIV/AIDS Policy Compendium Database:

http://209.27.118.7/