HIV/AIDS Poses Risks for Small Businesses in South Africa

Small and mid-size businesses are among partners in the effort to control HIV in South Africa.

Redpeg is a private South African company that develops and delivers comprehensive HIV/AIDS interventions. Funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, administered by the South African Department of Health, has enabled Redpeg to train more than 180 organizations to fight HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

"If we did not put anything into place and you are developing people and they are dying, you know you cannot grow and expand your business," said Derek Wilson, human resources director of Air Liquide, a Redpeg client.

Thirty-three percent of some 1,000 South African companies surveyed by the Bureau of Economic Research said they were negatively affected by HIV/AIDS. The survey also found that 43 percent expected operations and profits to be negatively affected in the next five years.

One of the goals of Redpeg is to encourage businesses to sustain HIV education and prevention efforts initiated in response to high-profile events such as World AIDS Day.

"We work with workplaces to help them understand what prevalence is within the workplace and how that is likely to impact functioning of their businesses," said Tracy Jeanpierre, Redpeg's Global Fund manager for the HIV World Place Program. "Then, we help them to develop strategies to mitigate that impact."

Counseling and testing are available to all Air Liquide employees. Employees who test positive for HIV receive free antiretroviral treatment, said Joyce Marshall, Air Liquide occupational health practitioner.

"People who previously would have died of full-blown AIDS are getting onto ARVs, and their neighbors see them come from skin and bone back to normal health. And, so what is happening on the ground is a word-of-mouth spreading of the good news that you do not have to die from HIV," Marshall said.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.

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