THE 85 000 people that make up the public sector now have a policy that details the Government's approach to dealing with HIVAIDS in the workplace.

Approved by the National Assembly in 2007, and launched on World AIDS Day yesterday by Prime Minister Nahas Angula, the policy reflects "Government's commitment to its employees' health and well-being".

In his foreword to the policy, Angula said Government has taken cognisance of the threat that HIV poses to achieving national development targets such as the Millennium Development Goals and Vision 2030.

He adds that these targets "can only be achieved through a qualified, motivated and healthy workforce".

Ways in which the public service has been negatively infected by HIV, the Policy states, includes "death of employees from AIDS-related illnesses, loss of productivity through absenteeism due to illness and attending funerals, increased medical costs, increased poverty among households of employees living with HIV, increased staff benefits and an increase in labour costs with the hiring and training of replacement staff".

The purpose of the Policy is to ensure a consistent approach across the public sector to the prevention of HIV among employees, and to manage the consequences of HIV, including the care and support of employees.

In the preface to the Policy document, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister, Nangula Mbako, states that HIV-AIDS has shown itself to be among the more difficult challenges that Permanent Secretaries are faced with in the public sector, "especially since this disease seems to fall outside the conventional framework in so many ways".

"The HIV and Wellness Focal Points and HIV Committee Members in Offices/Ministries and Agencies are enabled by this policy to develop full-fledged programmes and activities reaching all staff members and members of the services," Mbako said.

The Policy was developed with the input of the OPM, the Namibian Employers' Federation, the Namibia Public Workers' Union, the Namibian National Teachers' Union, the Government Institutions Pension Fund, representatives of people living with HIV, AIDS service organisations and staff from across the hierarchy of the public service.