“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 Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS in the 2003 December/January issue of the CCA Africa Journal.

In many African environments, HIV/AIDS is a serious impediment to economic productivity and continued foreign investment.  The disease impacts societies across generations, from the young, who are frequently the most vulnerable, to the elderly who are left with dependent children. The loss of trained and skilled workers in the prime of their productive lives has severe economic implications for business and investment in Africa’s private and public sectors.

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.

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 2001, HIV/AIDS had reduced the labor force in Africa by approximately 20 percent.  It is projected that at the present rate of infection, by 2020, the size of the labor force will be 10 to 30 percent smaller than originally predicted.

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.