Zambia: Here's How to Sustain HIV/AIDS Workplace Policies. 09/02/10
Workplaces are increasingly being targeted as fertile grounds for the fight against HIV/AIDS because workers spend most of their time there; working and interacting with their colleagues.
WORKPLACES are increasingly being targeted as fertile grounds for the fight against HIV/AIDS because workers spend most of their time there; working and interacting with their colleagues.
Because of their higher literacy levels, workers are also better placed to understand the meaning, causes, preventive measures, and other issues surrounding the epidemic, which has continued to attract the attention of governments, civil society, and other interest groups owing to its devastating effects on populations.
HIV/AIDS has many cost implications on the economy of a country as it wipes out the productive sector of the population.
Similarly, the social landscape of a country is affected. Many breadwinners die, the number of orphans escalates, and anti-social behaviour such as commercial sex work goes up.
Health experts have established an important link between poverty and HIV/AIDS.
Zambia is one of the sub-Saharan African countries worst affected by the pandemic, with a prevalence rate of about 14.3 per cent, according to the latest Ministry of Health estimates.
The 2008 Zambia Demographic Health Survey, states that 16 per cent of women and 12 per cent of men of sexually active age are HIV positive, with young people aged between 15 and 24 accounting for 6.5 per cent of the HIV statistics.
Some of the key factors in the spread of HIV are multiple, concurrent sexual partners that some people have engaged themselves in.
The relationship between HIV and poverty is well-established; poverty directly or indirectly promotes behaviour that leaves people vulnerable to HIV.
As a result of poverty, preventable and treatable diseases have taken an enormous toll on poor people who do not have access to professional healthcare information, education and secure employment.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are also a major public health problem in Zambia. Up to 10 per cent of all outpatient attendances at health institutions are related to STIs; with the most affected age-group being between 15 and 44 years.
STIs are said to increase the chances of HIV transmission in cases of unprotected sex between an HIV-positive person and one who is not.
A doctor from the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Bwalya Nkole, says HIV 1, which is found in Zambia, causes the most serious illnesses and faster progression of AIDS.
Dr Nkole said at a Zambia Business Coalition workshop in Kitwe recently that a number of men had now resorted to circumcision, an operation that was yet to be fully appreciated.
She told the participants that circumcision was not an answer to reducing HIV, but when used with condoms effectively and consistently it reduces the chances of contracting the virus.
She said circumcision reduces the risk of HIV by 60 per cent, with condom use as an additional strategy and not a stand-alone measure.
Another doctor from Luanshya Mine Hospital, Boniface Zulu told participants that HIV is a manageable chronic disease that needs the involvement of everybody.
Dr Zulu urged the participants to encourage their male colleagues to get circumcised, saying the scientific basis for circumcision proved to be effective and that it reduces the chances of cancer of the penis in men and reduces the chances of their partners to get cervical cancer.
He said as one is entering the 40s - the age of malignancies - where cancers and high blood pressure are common due to low immunities, people should be cautious and go for check-ups.
He said it was important for people to test for the virus because if one knew their status, they would know how to take care of themselves.
Dr Zulu also challenged the participants that one is able to know how to relate with clients who are HIV positive when they know their status as most people involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS do not even know their status.
He said people living with the virus need dignity and it can be restored to them through maximum confidentiality, which has been a challenge for most counsellors and people involved in HIV/AIDS programmes.
Dr Zulu said healthcare was being affected because of the interaction of conventional and traditional remedies.
According to a Zambia Business Coalition survey, 82 per cent of the people who die in the workplace die from HIV-related illnesses.
The Zambia Business Coalition comprises public and private companies, and non-governmental organisations in Zambia, which have come together to respond to HIV/AIDS and mitigate its impact.
Currently made up of 72 member companies from various business sectors all over the country, it closely works with the Government, donor community and other entities involved in addressing issues of HIV/AIDS.
Lizzy Chanda, a facilitator from the Zambia Business Coalition said focal point persons are key leaders in the implementation of workplace policies.
She said a good workplace policy should be independent; it should not involve sister companies but employees of a particular organisation should be fully involved at all levels as that would guide them on how best to implement their programmes.
HIV/AIDS workplace programmes have at times proved to be challenging.
With the creation of multi-national companies, some organisations have adopted policies of sister companies in other countries, making local programmes difficult to sustain.
Ms Chanda said when formulating a policy, an organisation should know the prevalence rate, the level of knowledge about the pandemic, attitude and practises pertaining to the company.
She said people should be encouraged to go for testing as long as they are sexually active because "every time is a new experience".
According to her, one of the obstacles to implementing HIV/AIDS programmes is financial support.
Failure to understand the importance of HIV/AIDS programmes has proved to be a big challenge. Some organisations perceive issues of HIV/AIDS as belonging to employees outside management.
Additionally, Ms Chanda said workplace policies cannot be separated from the community within which an organisation operates.
Copperbelt Provincial AIDS co-ordinating advisor, Violet Mongeza said generally, workplace HIV/AIDS programmes, especially in line-ministries on the Copperbelt, had not been doing well due to factors such as inadequate funding.
Ms Mongeza said focal point persons do not have enough time and support to carry out their activities.
Some supervisors do not support financing of HIV/AIDS activities because of "thin" budgets and prefer giving prominence to other areas.
For most focal point persons, it is basically a volunteer arrangement and they cannot be held accountable for not pushing the programmes forward.
Ms Mongeza said focal point persons desire some incentives for the work they do.
Exchange visits, information sharing and some responsibility allowances would encourage them to press ahead with workplace policies.
However, she said not all hope was lost as the private sector was doing well in this area.
As Ms Mongeza put it, it will be important for organisations to prioritise HIV/AIDS programmes and encourage training of more peer educators this year.
Lately, most organisations have moved from concentrating on HIV/AIDS alone.
But like Dr Zulu said, with the dominance of malignances, organisations are also looking at wellness, where a general health check encompassing all health aspects is conducted.
It is common knowledge that an organisation that has healthy employees is highly-productive and is bound to meet its set targets.