HIV/AIDS workplace programme launched
It is not certain just how many people in the workforce have HIV and AIDS, but the deadly disease has mainly affected persons in the productive sector: that means young men and women between the ages of fifteen to forty-nine years old. Today, the Ministry of Labour and Local Government launched a workplace HIV/AIDS project that seeks to protect workers against the disease and to help companies to deal with cases on the job. The programme comes as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Ministry of Human Development, Local Government and Labour, and the International Labour Organization in collaboration with the United States Department of Labour. Sheila Middleton is the project’s national coordinator.
Sheila Middleton, National Project Coordinator
“We know that the target population that are being affected by HIV are the working force population, so this is the importance of this programme that we will be working with the workforce trying to prevent HIV/AIDS in the workplace and also putting education programmes. Ongoing education programmes, not only once a month you do something, but often people will be getting exposed to information and thus they will be able to reduce some of their risky behaviours.”
“What will happen is that we will do training at the top with the supervisors and the managers first, sensitisation so that they become more aware of the issue of HIV/AIDS. Then we will work directly with the employees of that selected company or government department. We will be instituting a peer education programme, behaviour change modification programme will also be a part of it. And also, they will have a selected committee within that company that will deal specifically with the whole issue of HIV/AIDS and they will be the ones that will say what are some of the things that they want. The first thing when we enter any company or government department, will be a survey to be done with the workers to see what their needs are and to see what level they know about the whole issue of HIV/AIDS.”
Middleton says because the project encourages companies to have workplace policies that include an HIV/AIDS plan of action, it will also address the problem of discrimination against persons living with the disease.
