[Promotional materials, International Conference on AIDS (13th : 200 : Durban, South Africa)]

NEWS RELEASE
Embargoed: 14.00(GMT), Tuesday 11 July 2000 THE GLOBAL
BUSINESS
Contacts: * Gavin Hart, Global Business Council on HIV and AIDS COUNCIL
Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected] ON HIV&AIDS
* Anne-Marie Kane, MTV
Tel: [phone] Email: [email protected]
NEW CHAIR OF GLOBAL BUSINESS COUNCIL ON HIV AND AIDS
CHALLENGES COMPANIES TO CONFRONT PANDEMIC
Bill Roedy proposes 5-Point Action Plan, and launches website and case-study report to
propel business participation
World Bank President James Wolfensohn endorses call to action
Tuesday 11 July, Durban, South Africa - In his first speech as the newly-appointed chairman of
the Global Business Council on HIV and AIDS (GBC), Bill Roedy, President of MTV Networks
International and Ambassador for UNAIDS, made an impassioned appeal for companies around
the world to take action in the face of the AIDS crisis.
Roedy, who succeeds Sir Richard Sykes of Glaxo Wellcome in leading the GBC, launched a 5 -Point Action Plan at the XIIIth International AIDS Conference in Durban that specifies the role
for companies in the battle against HIV and AIDS:
* Leadership Statement - to sign up to the GBC's Corporate Leadership Statement,
making a public commitment to address HIV and AIDS.
* Employees - raise AIDS awareness amongst their staff and establish effective workplace
policies for people with HIV, e.g. creating a written policy on the issue
* Partnerships - support community education campaigns by forging partnerships with
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governments, including 'cause-related
marketing' initiatives
* Advocacy - help keep AIDS at the top of national and international agendas, including
efforts to publicise the HIV crisis through the media
* Peers - encourage other businesses to get involved in the fight against AIDS, including

the establishment of national business councils on the issue