CCA: HIV/AIDS Initiative: The Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa

The Oil and Gas Industry

Primary Resources

“Knowledge Policy and Action: HIV/AIDS Management in the Oil and Gas Industry.” Prepared by The International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) and International Association of Oil & Gas Producers (OGP) Secretariats on behalf of the OGP-IPIECA Health Committee.

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Findings

Impact

Every industry has a spread of activities that, on a risk basis, may be ranked as being of greater or lesser significance in terms of HIV/AIDS transmission. With respect to the oil and gas industry, HIV/AIDS transmission risk is commonly linked to the following:

Activities that are associated with a sudden increase in economic activity and employment, particularly in areas of high unemployment or where income of expatriates is high compared to that of local workers (e.g. construction activity in remote areas or developing countries);
Activities that increase the migration of a workforce, or otherwise permanently alter the population dynamics of the area (e.g. operation of a new production facility or refinery);
Activities that involve the regular transport of goods or material across distances (e.g. road distribution of petroleum products); and
Activities that separate employees from their partners for extended periods of time.

When evaluating risk, oil and gas industry activities may be divided into broad categories that describe both facility construction (e.g of a pipeline or production facility) as well as operations (exploration and production/upstream, refining, distribution, retail marketing).

Different types of activity have different risk categories and the reasons for those differences vary: for example, pipeline and production facility construction have higher risks of transmission because of mobility, extended separation from familial support structures, poor levels of awareness, and high disposable income. Similarly, other employment categories will have their own attendant risk factors and levels.

When setting up a formal HIV/AIDS programme, this kind of basic risk analysis should be conducted at an early stage to customize and focus the response effort towards the areas of greatest risk. It is important to realize that the increased risk for mobile populations includes the spouses and partners of employees as well as the employees themselves. It is also critical to understand that HIV/AIDS is an ‘across the fence’ issue: many of the behaviors, risks and vulnerabilities lie outside the immediate control of the business or workplace. It is therefore important to understand all the stakeholder groups that interact with the business (e.g. communities, contractors, expatriates, local hires) so that appropriate, targeted interventions may be made.

Responses

1. ExxonMobil

ExxonMobil developed StopAids, a company-wide HIV/AIDS workplace program. The StopAIDS Program builds on efforts already underway in many of our operations and reflects ExxonMobil’s commitment to the health and safety of its employees. The primary aim of the program is to provide a consistent and effective prevention education message that is based on identified best practices available for local adaptation, as appropriate, by each affiliate operating in Africa.

In Angola, ExxonMobil support a variety of community-focused HIV/AIDS education and prevention strategies.
In Chad and Cameroon, the company led campaigns to test villagers for curable sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and to provide treatment. ExxonMobil also funded education regarding STDs in general and HIV/AIDS in particular.
The company supports the Safe Blood for Africa Foundation (Safe Blood) to help countries provide quality blood bank technology to Africa since untested blood accounts for a significant portion safety and health problems.

2. Chevron Texaco HIV/AIDS Nigeria Case Study:

The programs focus mainly on prevention of the escalation of the epidemic by targeting employees, their families, and the community, as well as supporting and caring for HIV+ employees.

Chevron’s Workplace AIDS Prevention Program (CWAPP) focuses on peer education, workplace events, condom distribution, manager and supervisor training, and awareness tools.
Community prevention programs focus on workshops for children of employees, joining HIV/AIDS awareness events and working with CSWs.
Chevron Nigeria Limited offers Voluntary Confidential Counseling and Testing (VCCT) services to its employees; however, only 1% of its workforce took advantage of VCCT in 2001.
Provides support for HIV+ employees through a joint support agreement with government clinics and home based care. Antiretroviral drugs are used to prevent mother to child transmission (MTC) and for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP).
Capacity building efforts focus on providing funding for the Nigerian Government to provide HIV/AIDS education in schools, and with the media to increase journalists' HIV/AIDS knowledge.

Primary Resource information

The World Economic Forum’s Global Health Initiative case study library.