EAST AFRICA: CEOs lead by example, take public HIV tests

November 18, 2010

KAMPALA, 18 November 2010 (PLUSNEWS) - At least 40 East African chief

executive officers (CEOs) recently took public HIV tests, a move

designed to show their commitment to fighting HIV in the workplace in

an increasingly integrated region.

" The objective was to encourage them [CEOs] to be role models, to

plan properly for the future but also to plan for employees who are

HIV-positive, " said Rosemary Ssenabulya, executive director of the

Federation of Uganda Employees.

" As a CEO it [taking an HIV test] makes it easier to decide that an

HIV policy is set out and workers are encouraged to test too; after

testing I encouraged all my staff to test, " she added.

The event was organized in Kampala by the East African Business

Council (EABC) [ http://eabc.info/node/714 ] and the German NGO GTZ. [

http://www.gtz.de/en ] It involved CEOs from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda,

Tanzania and Uganda, which have a total population of over 120

million.

" Businesses must recognize how much the wage bill is impacted by the

HIV epidemic, a condition that predisposes the affected individual to

any infection they come in contact with due to a compromised immune

system, " said Lillian Awinja, the GTZ adviser to EABC on HIV and

health.

In recent years, companies in the region have developed workplace HIV

policies to prevent HIV as well as care for HIV-infected employees,

but statistics show that many businesses are lagging behind. The

Uganda Manufacturers Association (UMA), for instance, reports that

just 47 out of 751 registered companies have HIV workplace policies.

" We have a big workforce which is vulnerable and illiterate about

HIV, " said Mustapher Ssebaggala, the executive director of UMA. " We

want a healthy work force and we targeted CEOs because we believe the

fish rots from the head. "

A 2010 EABC and GTZ study [

http://www.gtzkenyahealth.com/blog3/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/EABC_GTZ-Report-o\

n-Sector-Approach-Study_03-2010.pdf

] of the chemical, manufacturing and hotel sectors in East Africa

found that HIV was not mentioned as a primary concern by any of the

companies interviewed. The authors recommended integrating

occupational safety and health policies with HIV policies to ensure

workers had access to HIV prevention, care and treatment; they further

recommended the sharing of best-practices between companies with

well-developed HIV policies and those with newer ones.

In July, the East African Common Market Protocol was launched,

allowing free movement of labour, capital, goods and services within

the region. Senior business figures attending the event noted that

this would require more integrated efforts to fight HIV.

According to Kihumuro Apuuli, director-general of the Uganda

AIDS Commission, East African businesses have a duty to fund the fight

against HIV in the region. He hoped local businesses could set up an

HIV trust fund where all private sector companies pool resources and

contribute to funding of HIV programmes.

East Africa's nations all have generalized epidemics, with HIV

prevalence ranging from 2 percent in Burundi to 7 percent in Kenya.

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November 18, 2010