English language version - Human Development Reports - United ...

The Demographic Impact of HIV and AIDS in Mozambiquethrough death around 1,700 staff at various levels.AIDS will account for about 84% of these deaths.Thus, in a time span of seven years, the sector maylose 25% of its total work force. Of the 1,700 it isestimated that about 881 deaths may occur amongbasic, mid-level and high technical staff. Of these,between 175 and 184 may be from the agriculturalextension area (MADER, Verde Azul Consultant,2005).ConclusionFrom the data presented, it is clear that all sectorsshow that they will, over time, suffer serous reductionsin their labour force, including skilled andexperienced technical staff of various levels and specialisations,which will have various implications forproduction and productivity. The conclusions thatcan be drawn are the following:• Without strong and sustained HIV and AIDSprevention programmes at the workplace,labour costs may increase significantly;• A significant part of the revenue or income fromundertakings may be used to pay for theexpenses arising from the above scenario, whichmay be expressed in reduced productivity orchanges in policies on social benefits and staffmanagement;• Many of these costs will be associated with healthcare, absenteeism and training;• The sectors that make intensive use of highlyskilled labour tend to be strongly affected, whilethose that make intensive use of unskilled labourtend to have less severe impacts;• The sectors that provide capital goods, such asconstruction and manufacturing are those thatwill suffer most from the effects of the epidemic;• To mitigate these impacts and sustain theeconomy as a whole, strong policies and strategiesin the areas of prevention, care and treatment,as well as at the level of impact mitigation,will have to be considered.29