Business Daily (Nairobi)
Mwaura Kimani
10 December 2007
Lack of co-ordination among labour industry players is hampering efforts to manage the impact of HIV/Aids at the workplace in Kenya, a top International Labour Organisation (ILO) official has warned.
Though the workplace is awash with programmes aimed at containing the scourge, co-operation and trust is lacking between employers' organisations, workers, union representatives and the Government.
Sophia Kisting, the director of the ILO's Global Programme on HIV/Aids at the workplace reckons that the disconnect is hampering successful implementation of Aids programmes and policies in East Africa.
"There are so many voices in the war against Aids and this is not bearing fruit," said Dr Kisting.
"Stigma and policy gaps remain a big hurdle in the fight against Aids at the workplace, putting at risk the lives of thousands of employees who fear losing their jobs upon declaring their HIV status," she said.
Last month, the National Aids Control Council revealed that HIV prevalence rate had dropped from 5.9 per cent in 2005 to 5.1 per cent last year.
An estimated 1.4 million people are living with HIV and Aids out of who 934,000 are adults aged between 15 and 49 years.
At least 1.8 million children have been orphaned by the disease in Kenya. Labour industry players say staff absenteeism and turnover, loss of skills and declining morale continue to increase costs while profits were declining.
Two weeks ago, local corporate heavyweights led the way for their employees when they tested for HIV in a move campaigners hope will get more Kenyans to seek to know their status.
The NACC has set a target of 80 per cent of tested citizens by 2010.
With statistics on the losses companies are incurring due to the impact of the scourge remaining scanty, the Federation of Kenya Employers (FKE) says it has developed a monitoring tool that could be a milestone in winning the war against Aid at the workplace.
Jacqueline Mugo, the Federation's executive director, reckons the tool that could eventually capture the total number of illnesses and the total cost on business will assist organisations in developing strategies to mitigate the impact.
"The development of a linkage among the various programmes would boost the fight against HIV and help companies reduce the impact the disease is currently posing in their bottomline," Ms Mugo said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2007 Business Daily. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
