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

Survey of HIV/AIDS awareness amongst Anglo Coal
employees (1996)
94% of employees know how HIV/AIDS can be prevented
94% believe what they have learned about HIV/AIDS
90% believe that HIV/AIDS really does exist
97% know where to go for an HIV test
91% know where to go for HIV/AIDS counselling
85% rate the education from the mine as good or excellent
77% believe that condoms are important in HIV/AIDS prevention
47% have changed their behaviour since learning of HIV/AIDS
30% believe they are at risk for becoming infected with HIV
particularly for spouses and partners. Additionally, Anglo
Coal recognised the need to develop partnerships with local
authorities to provide mobile STD clinics for the wider
community and to run programmes on nutrition and
healthy life styles.
Despite high levels of awareness of HIV/AIDS amongst
employees, further efforts needed to be made to change
patterns of sexual behaviour. Anglo Coal recognised that
this would require addressing the wider causes of the
spread of the epidemic, particularly in terms of sexual
behaviour with regards to commercial sex workers. This was
the impetus for Anglo Coal to initiate a joint project in 1996
called the 'Kriel Project', in conjunction with the University
of Zimbabwe, the local authority, Ingwe Coal (a competitor
mining company), and Eskom (an electricity utility). The
primary aim of this project was to seek to change sexual
behaviour, though community meetings, condom
distribution and HIV/AIDS education for commercial sex
workers and their clients. This was undertaken through
participatory approaches that reflected the need to address
the power imbalance between sex workers and their clients
and their need for mutual support. Anglo Coal has
supported this project by supporting training, providing
technical assistance and facilitating information gathering.
Despite this impressive project, Anglo Coal recognised that
there are no signs of the HIV/AIDS epidemic stabilising and
that if the industry was going to have future, particularly a
future source of labour supply, then prevention activities
needed to be scaled-up. Anglo Coal is initiating the
expansion of the Kriel Project into what is called the
Mpumalanga Powerbelt AIDS Project, extending the reach
to cover 16 rural and semi-rural districts. This long-term (10
years) expanded project will be based on the principles of
the Kriel Project but will also introduce a number of
improvements:

1. Enhanced mapping of HIV prevalence, linking it to
socio-economic and behavioural assessments;
2. More comprehensive monitoring and auditing, guided
by qualified HIV/AIDS experts;
3. Targeting of schools to address the future labour pool;
4. Innovative socio-economic community projects to assist
in providing alternative employment to commercial sex
work;
5. Integration of existing HIV/AIDS programmes into
project.
3. Results and lessons
Anglo Coal's activities have highlighted a number of
important factors for business to effectively respond to
HIV/AIDS:
1. The need for continual monitoring of the effectiveness
of HIV/AIDS programmes and a willingness to adapt the
programmes accordingly;
2. The need for a multi-pronged approach to ensure real
effectiveness, to go beyond the workplace and address
issues within the local community;
3. The benefits of working in partnership with other
companies and organisations, bringing with them extra
knowledge, expertise and other resources;
4. Recognising the business reason for addressing HIV/AIDS
in and beyond the workplace and committing resources
accordingly.

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