The State of Business and HIV/AIDS (2006) - Booz Allen Hamilton

3 Baseline: Current State of Business and AIDS
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When a company initiated an AIDS program that involved
making and showing public service announcements
throughout the media in Russia, 47% of audiences asked for
more information on the disease.
effect in preventing HIV/AIDS. Companies with
successful programs indicated that education
initiatives had to focus on behavior change to really
see significant prevention impact.
Companies have demonstrated extraordinary
leadership in prevention with 82 percent of
surveyed companies providing workplace
information on HIV/AIDS. However only 41 percent
conduct surveys and assessments, suggesting
that half of surveyed companies are addressing
prevention in an uninformed way.
Many companies use peer educators to allow
difficult topics to be broached in areas where
stigma associated with HIV/AIDS is high. For those
extending prevention and education programs
to the community, initiatives include holding
family days, working with community groups, and
sponsorship of sport or youth events.
In low prevalence regions, companies report
that the focus should be on prevention, even
though it is harder to articulate the business
case. Companies reported that in these areas,
prevalence rates of HIV/AIDS are not always clear
(China, India, and Russia). They do however see
the risk to workers, customer base, suppliers, and
the systems in which they operate if the pandemic
takes hold in these regions, so some are acting
now to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS. As one
company spokesperson stated, “the earlier you
start, the less investment is required” to tackle the
HIV/AIDS problem.
Many companies suggested education and
prevention programs are extended to target young
adults and adolescents (the workers of the future)
in their communities to achieve the greatest impact
in addressing HIV/AIDS.
Cultural and regional differences require
companies to tailor programs to the local
environment. One company reported having a factfocused
presentation in the United Kingdom while
using role play techniques in Kenya.
We had only a third of our
workers prepared to go for
counseling and testing, so
we introduced an information
campaign over a 2-year
period. We found that at the
end of the campaign, more
than 80 percent of employees
came forward for counseling
and testing.