Surihe Gaomas
21 November 2007
Windhoek — The Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Welfare, Petrus Ilonga, has urged labour inspectors in the country to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic with the same vigour and determination that Namibians fought against apartheid during the liberation struggle.
"I want us to do what we did in the liberation struggle and with the same vigour. That is my challenge to you. We as Namibians, together with fellow Africans and the world over, can take HIV/AIDS out of the continent. You have to arm yourselves in the fight against HIV/AIDS," said the Deputy Minister.
Ilonga said this when he officially opened a two-day National Tripartite Consultation on HIV/AIDS in the World of Work meeting in Windhoek yesterday. Close to 50 labour inspectors, business representatives and mineworkers meet to exchange ideas and views on issues related to HIV/AIDS in the workplace based on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Windhoek Platform of Action that was adopted in Namibia in October 1999. Proposals that come out of the two-day meeting lays the position on Namibia to hold the ILO Conference next year. Since HIV/AIDS costs skilled labour, productivity and threatens the delivery of goods and services, the pandemic must be treated as a workplace issue.
HIV/AIDS also makes the cost of doing business very expensive. Two thirds of people with HIV/AIDS are from Sub-Saharan Africa, while the majority are in Southern Africa. Speaking at the same occasion, HIV/AIDS Technical Specialist from ILO, Evelyn Serima, said productive men and women are severely being infected and affected by HIV/AIDS including their families. Namibia is no exception where United Nations/AIDS estimations are that there are 40 new infections every day. Serima said Southern Africa has been declared a national emergency when it comes to the spiralling HIV/AIDS infection rate in the region.
Advice was also thrown on the table that labour inspectors must continuously do more to become agents of change when it comes to prevention and behaviour change in different workplaces they inspect.
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