HIV Prevention and Education in the Workplace
Since the world was made aware of HIV and Aids in the early 1980s, many programmes have been rolled out with the aim of educating people about the disease thereby minimising the spread. Despite the many programmes and organisations working towards creating awareness of HIV, the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed that at the end of 2013, 35 million people were living with HIV. A UNAIDS report, released in July 2014, further highlighted that 19 million of the 35 million people living with HIV globally did not know their HIV positive status.
These statistics confirm that the HIV epidemic continues to be a major global public health issue. Research reports that sub-Saharan Africa remains the most affected region with 24.7 million people living with HIV in 2013. Sub-Saharan Africa also accounts for almost 70% of the global total of new HIV infections.
According to a report released by the Human Sciences Research Council in April 2014, the proportion of South Africans infected with HIV has increased from 10.6% in 2008 to 12.2% in 2012. The total number of infected South Africans now stands at 6.4 million – 1.2 million more than in 2008. Women aged between 30 and 34 and males aged 35 to 39 had the highest infection rates: 36% of females and 28.8% of males in these respective age groups contracted HIV.
It therefore appears that, although HIV and Aids are nowadays seen as ‘old news’, the importance of education and awareness remains as relevant as what it did in the 80’s.
With the confirmation that women aged between 30 – 34 and men aged 35 – 39 show the highest infection rates, it is evident that those most at risk are individuals who very likely find themselves employed by an organisation. While the effects of HIV in the workplace differ by the size of the organisation, there will more than likely be an impact on the organisation’s productivity, profitability, economic growth and efficiency. HIV in the workplace, according to USAid, can lead to disruptions in production or internal processes as employees become ill, require time off for medical – or care giving purposes, or retire for medical reasons. Health care and insurance costs are likely to rise when employees contract HIV.
Employees infected with HIV will cost the organisation money. Organisations are directly affected due to increased absenteeism, time taken off and lower staff morale.
It is therefore evident that the workplace could play an imperative role for prevention messages and, increasingly, for counselling, testing and referrals for further services. According to the USAid programme, strengthening prevention efforts in the workplace targets groups who may be mobile as a result of work; these populations have been found to be at higher risk for HIV infection because they are away from their communities and families and have incomes that can be used to established sexual relationships. Implementing workplace HIV interventions can, according to them, therefore help to influence norms, combat stigma and foster a broader sense of community investment in public health.
HIV Education and Prevention Programmes – Key Aspects
A report describing what is considered good practice when it comes to HIV programmes in the workplace describes the importance of integrating HIV and Aids programmes into a wellness programme. Wellness programmes in the workplace take many forms and are structured differently depending on the culture of the organisation and what aspects are covered by the programme. While most wellness programmes lie within the Human Resource Department, when including an HIV programme the link between different departments in the organisation becomes imperative. Key departments such as occupational health and safety, training and heath care provision.
When implementing an HIV programme, the universal precautions are an obvious issue to include in a workplace health and safety programme. Employees should be trained in first aid, safe handling of blood spills in an emergency situation along with all other standard operating procedures related to universal precautions.
By having the HIV programme form part of the general wellness programme at an organisation will also lessen the stigma associated with a stand-alone HIV programme. The University of Cape Town (UCT) developed an approach which they called ‘organisational health’ to provide a mechanism to view health issues from a strategic perspective and to provide appropriate health services which was intended to lead to:
- Integration of health-related matters
- Efficient and effective delivery of health care
- UCT being seen as a caring organisation
- UCT having the capacity to deal with complex issues such as Aids and incapacity.
The roll-out of this organisational health programme by UCT created a standard of good practice for other organisations looking at rolling out an HIV programme.
It therefore appears that based on research and best practice models that an integrated approach might be the key success indicator for HIV programmes in companies today.
To create this integrated approach the following aspects should form an important part of the programme:
- HIV Policy and Legislation
- Prevention Programmes
- Care, Support and Treatment Programme
- Monitoring and Evaluation of the Programme
In conjunction with your wellness partners including your employee assistance programme organisations can ensure that they manage and support employees infected, and affected by HIV to create a caring organisational culture.
 |
Celéste Olivier is the EAP manager at Kaelo Consulting. She has a BA in social work from the Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg) and an MA in occupational social work from the University of the Witwatersrand. |
