A study based on the responses of over 10,000 executives in 117 countries, including about 100 in India, says just 7% of Indian companies expect HIV/AIDS to have any serious impact on their operations

Indian businesses have failed to assess and respond proactively to the threat of HIV/AIDS in the workforce, even as concern over the growing incidence of the disease is rising within the corporate sector, according to a new report. The challenge now facing business is converting this concern into programmes that are strong enough to control the impact of the disease on the bottom line.

Worldwide, 46% of business executives believe that their operations would be adversely impacted by HIV/AIDS over the next five years, says a World Economic Forum 2005 Global Health Initiative (GHI) study. By comparison, 'Business and HIV/AIDS: A Healthier Partnership' says just 7% of Indian companies expect HIV/AIDS to have any serious impact on their operations. Another 18% expect some negative fallout, while 80% do not expect any adverse consequences from HIV/AIDS on their businesses.

The study is based on the responses of over 10,000 executives in 117 countries, including about 100 in India. Of the total of 2,221 companies surveyed worldwide, 42 were Indian businesses.

Authored by David E Bloom, professor of economics and demography at the Harvard School of Public Health, USA, the study had survey inputs from the Foundation for AIDS Research. "Business is a powerful actor in all countries with serious HIV/AIDS epidemics. The private sector as a whole is vulnerable to the macroeconomic consequences of the epidemic, while individual businesses face potentially serious impacts on their employees and markets," says the report. "However, as this report shows, with some exceptions the private sector has yet to adopt a widespread leadership role in the response to HIV/AIDS."

Very few firms surveyed have conducted a quantitative HIV/AIDS risk assessment (9%), and the majority, where national HIV prevalence exceeds 1 in 5, have formal HIV/AIDS policies (58%). Where prevalence drops below 1 in 5, it says, very few firms have a policy (20%) and these are likely to be informal.

The study reveals that while some businesses have been successful in actually assessing the risk of HIV/AIDS to their organisation, and then putting formal policies in place, most have not been serious in the implementation. "Unfortunately, many firms do one or the other of these steps, rarely combining the two, which may be leading to weakened, or at worst, ineffective HIV/AIDS policies," says Bloom.

"Business is becoming increasingly aware of the positive impact it can make on the disease, but the devil is in the detail," says Francesca Boldrini, director, GHI. "In order to successfully scale up efforts against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, firms need to develop increasingly robust HIV/AIDS workplace programmes."

Worldwide, policies addressing the issues of discrimination in promotion, pay or benefits based on HIV status are rare -- only 18% of businesses surveyed had these in place. "Although some businesses offer examples of best practice, many lack the knowledge, will and capacity to respond effectively to the epidemic," says the report.

This assessment is certainly true for Indian corporate bodies surveyed, with only 11% having a specific written policy to combat it. About 31% reported having an informal policy, while 52% had no policy to face the expected challenge.

India has more cases of HIV -- estimated to be about 5.1 million -- than any other country barring South Africa.

The report says that though "South Asian and Southeast Asian firms report increasing concern over the effects of HIV/AIDS... and a relatively high proportion of respondent firms have policies to combat the disease, there is a growing tendency towards informal rather than formal responses".

The report observes that 76% of Indian companies surveyed claim to have a prevention programme, while only 29% have provision for any voluntary testing against the global average of 33%. In 50% of cases there was no provision for voluntary testing, 45% had no facilities to distribute condoms, and 67% had no treatment programme.

What is most discouraging is that 74% of Indian companies revealed they had no anti-discrimination policy to protect the interests of HIV/AIDS infected workers.

On the positive side, 14% had an active policy to protect workers, with 10% ensuring access to anti-retroviral treatment, 19% to promotion of condom usage, and 29% to providing voluntary testing facilities.

"The private sector is a vital part of any cross-cutting social partnership against AIDS," the report states, underlining that "continued action is therefore needed to convince companies of the role they can play in combating HIV/AIDS -- and the rewards they will garner by playing it."

The report highlights that the majority of policies need to be strengthened to cover the minimisation of stigma, the promotion of non-discrimination based on HIV status, and support systems to assist employees gain access to anti-retroviral treatment, rather than focusing solely on HIV prevention.

It adds that for more than a quarter of the US firms surveyed, HIV/AIDS policies cost them less than $ 500,000 per annum.

"In recent years, we have seen business become more aware of the threat posed by AIDS leading them to take a bigger role in acting against the disease," says Ben Plumley, director, executive office, UNAIDS. "The potential of the private sector's contribution is immense and there is so much more it can still do to help. The findings of this report will really help us understand how we can engage more businesses in addressing the growing threat of HIV."

Source: Indo-Asian News Service, January 15, 2006
www.rediff.com, January 14, 2006