HIV/AIDS is a serious threat to the economic productivity and profitability of countries with high infection rates as well as to the global economy. The disease has the most damaging impact on the younger population, and the loss of trained and skilled workers in their prime has severe implications for business and development.
“The private 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 HIV/AIDS, has the unparalleled opportunity to change the course of the pandemic for individuals and families, communities and even nations. The fight against HIV/AIDS cannot be won without it.”
Excerpt from an article by
Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, in the 2003 December/January issue of the CCA Africa Journal
In 2002, USAID reported that by 2010, at the present rate of infection, life expectancy in 11 sub-Saharan African countries would fall to 30 years. Without the presence of HIV/AIDS, the projected life expectancy in these countries would reach near 70 years by 2010.
In 2000, the World Bank declared HIV/AIDS to be not only a health problem, but also a development crisis, jeopardizing human welfare and socioeconomic advancement as well as having degenerative effects on societal structure, production capacity and even national security.
HIV/AIDS in the workplace raises the cost of doing business because of the following side effects:
- Lowered productivity
- Excessive absenteeism
- Increased labor turnover, including the loss of experienced personnel
- Greater recruitment, training and retraining costs
- Decline in worker morale
- Increased company health care and death benefits costs
It is in the companies' interest, 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.
