Published by the government of Zimbabwe
13 May 2008
Harare — THE Zimbabwe Business Council is setting up steering committees in the provinces to enhance the response of business to the HIV and Aids pandemic and to contribute to the development of the national policy, an official said yesterday.
ZBC executive director Mr David Mutambara said the steering committees would provide a pool from which representatives of the business community on national committees and taskforces on HIV and Aids were selected.
"We want to rationalise the communication and expression of the business voice," he said. Mr Mutambara said at the moment business representatives on national stakeholder committees such as the National Aids Council did not have the mandate of the business community since they were appointed and not elected.
He said the steering committees ZBC was establishing would provide structures for the business community to elect people to represent them on national stakeholder committees such the District Aids Action Committees.
"We are at the stage of setting up structures," he said.
The Zimbabwe Business Council on Aids is a private sector initiative to promote the viability, growth and sustainability of business through the elimination of the impact of HIV and Aids on companies.
It encourages and supports companies to develop and implement comprehensive HIV and Aids programmes to eliminate the business risk of HIV.
The ZBCA, which now boasts a membership of 30, was formed in December 2004 by 13 registered companies and registered as a Trust.
It provides leadership, advocacy and support to private companies to effectively eliminate the risk of HIV on their businesses.
Mr Mutambara said while currently the ZBCA was serving large private and public quoted companies, it planned to expand its services to include the small and medium enterprises as well as the micro businesses.
He said ZBCA would also expand its services to ensure that all geographical areas in Zimbabwe were covered, he said.
'We are working with the Ministry of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and the SME Association to find opportunities to strengthen capacities of SMEs to develop workplace HIV and Aids policies," he said.
ZBCA was also working with one Traders Association in Victoria Falls in providing HIV and Aids education, he said.
Out of the current 30 ZBCA members, Mr Mutambara said 28 had comprehensive workplace HIV and Aids policies while the remainder were in the process of reviewing theirs.
Some of the companies such as Willowvale Motor Industries and Hwange Colliery have since introduced schemes to assist their workers to purchase anti retroviral drugs. -- New Ziana.
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