CCA Plans to Host Oil and Gas Sector Meeting Focused on HIV/AIDS Issues

Diversity of experience in addressing HIV/AIDS in their workforces, the variable nature of disease impact on member companies, human and financial resource constraints, and the need for effective surveillance, monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are all constraints to a coordinated expansion of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and treatment services in the oil and gas sector. The CCA HIV/AIDS Initiative proposes, in collaboration with its extensive partner network, to provide leadership and technical assistance to CCA members in this sector as they define and subsequently implement programs in the field of HIV/AIDS.

Many CCA companies in the oil and gas sector are in the advanced stages of HIV/AIDS policy and program development. However, there are a number of companies that are just reaching the program implementation stage, and there are also companies that are not yet convinced of the extent of the impact of HIV/AIDS on their business. This HIV/AIDS training session will be conducted using the framework of the IFC HIV/AIDS Guide for the Mining Sector and is designed to address issues faced by companies in all stages of HIV/AIDS program development.

A number of CCA members in the oil and gas sector have conducted bilateral meetings at different times to discuss the pooling of resources and other cooperative efforts; however the opportunity for a multiparty coordinated discussion of sector wide issues will provide CCA members with access to both potential resources and a broad discussion of experiences, assessed needs and obstacles, and most importantly, an opportunity to strategically address HIV/AIDS in the sector from a coordinated perspective inclusive of public and private resources. The seminar will address technical assistance and resource obstacles to "scaling-up" of planned and ongoing HIV/AIDS programs of our member companies in the petroleum sector.

A date for the proposed meeting has not yet been identified.