The Business Response to HIV/AIDS: Impact and lesson learned

care and other costs. Anglo Coal and Eskom of South Africa (see Profiles 10 & 11) both recognised
the importance of community involvement in order to prevent workforce initiatives being
undermined. The various activities they have undertaken include focusing on wider causes of the
spread of the epidemic, particularly in terms of sexual behaviour with regard to commercial sex
workers. They also recognised that if they were to protect their future labour supplies their
HIV/AIDS education and prevention initiatives would have to be scaled up in cooperation with other
companies, governmental organisations and NGOs. Another example is Chevron, Nigeria, whose
community outreach programmes have also extended to the local youth, in recognition of the
importance of early education and prevention (see Profile 7).
The benefits to the business of social investment initiatives are less immediate and usually less
measurable than actions designed to protect employees; nevertheless, they can be substantial.
Sustained involvement not only helps reduce the risk to employees, but also promotes a healthy
community, which in turn can enhance the company's reputation for social responsibility with public
officials, local customers and other community members. Some companies around the world have
extended their work with local community stakeholders to support a variety of initiatives in the wider
society. For example, the Warsaw Marriott Hotel, Poland, sought to increase knowledge and
awareness of HIV/AIDS and prevent discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS within Poland
and other Central and Eastern European countries (see Profile 3).
Many companies have made philanthropic grants to HIV/AIDS education and care projects. While
these actions might be of indirect benefit to the business, they are not aimed at protecting the
company's bottom-line profits other than building a company's reputation as a good corporate citizen.
A survey in 1998 by the Centre for Disease Control showed that 46 percent of US businesses are
involved in some kind of HIV/AIDS philanthropy. Funders Concerned About AIDS have recently
observed that these companies are continuing to provide grants for HIV/AIDS, but increasingly
through more dynamic, innovative and needs-based approaches. As a result companies are beginning
to focus on vulnerable groups and are responding to the changing demographics of the disease, in
some regions shifting towards women and children (e.g. see Profile 14 on Bristol Myers Squibb). In
India, for example, a business coalition of young Delhi businessmen donated telephones and
telephone lines to a "Youth Reach" project, targeted at marginalised groups in urban areas. This
project was in partnership with the Naz Foundation Indian Trust, an HIV/AIDS organisation, who
provided the personnel for a confidential help line service.
4. ADVOCACY AND LEADERSHIP
Businesses are in a unique position to promote efforts in the prevention of HIV/AIDS. If businesses
are seen to recognise the importance of responding to the disease, this has tremendous advocacy
potential within communities, the general public, other businesses and governments. Most of the
companies profiled within this report seek to take a lead in advocating for a greater business response.
A number of high profile multinational companies such as Levi Strauss, The Body Shop, Glaxo
Wellcome and Tata have long been recognised as key players in the business response to HIV/AIDS.
On both an international and national level, companies have begun to collaborate on advocacy
through business coalitions on HIV/AIDS. For example, at the international level, the Global
Business Council on HIV&AIDS is made up of senior-level business leaders from companies that
have been spearheading the business response to the disease. Through their activities they have begun
to raise the level of business involvement in dialogue and action on HIV/AIDS internationally
(e.g. International Partnership Against AIDS in Africa, see Profile 16) and in identifying good
practice by business. Important to this work at both levels has been the existence of a few businesses
that are willing to take a lead in driving forward initiatives. Sir Richard Sykes, Chairman of Glaxo

Wellcome, has made particular efforts at the international level, as the founding Chair of the Global
Business Council on HIV&AIDS, to encourage businesses to recognise the importance of responses.

THE BUSINESS RESPONSE TO HIV/AIDS: Impact and lessons learned

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