AIDS in Africa, a question of positive work with HIV!
By Andrew Freeway
Thirty million African people are HIV carriers - with a growing number of women. Ten percent of them are living in Kenya. And Kenyan employers have decided to keep them in the working force!
"Employers have kept their eyes closed to reality too long. Only now are they realizing the consequences of their attitude toward AIDS on their work force," says Patrick Couteau. From his base in Nairobi, Kenya the Frenchman coordinates the regional HIV-AIDS project of the International Red Cross and the Half Moon.
Most Kenyans with HIV do not speak about their situation. They are afraid they will be sacked and become outcasts. According to Couteau it is necessary to be much more open about this situation. To suit the action to the word he published an advertisement for new staff stating that people with HIV were preferred.
Dorothy Achieng was hired, a woman who has been HIV positive for more than 13 years and is working as an AIDS activist. People with HIV are taking her words of advice much more seriously and are more eager to change their lifestyle if Dorothy is delivering the message. Many colleagues use her as a kind of helpdesk for professional and personal advice. Adding the personal experiences of Dorothy to the team has been an important decision and is working out great.
Negotiations with insurers
One of Dorothy's first assignments was to start negotiations about an insurance package including AIDS blockers. Due to this medication people with HIV can stay on their jobs and still have a full life. Some employees prefer to have people with HIV since they are much more aware of life and more eager to give a good performance. It is not only a question of living with HIV but also of working with HIV.
Only one insurance company in East Africa is offering a package covering AIDS and HIV. Atia Yahya, manager of the healthcare insurance department of Apollo Insurance says that it took her a long time before she got her ideas accepted. As from 2000 Apollo Insurance started to buy AIDS blockers because of the decline in the buying price. In the mean time the price of these medicines is lower then the price of diabetes medicine. Apollo Insurance only offers insurance to companies with 50 or more employees; otherwise the financial risk is too high. Until now it is mostly banks, communication companies and hotels who have bought this insurance.
Along a dirty and broken street in one of the industrial areas at the edge of Nairobi you can find the Tetra Pak plant. This international company produces packages for the food industry. Somewhere in 1993, when the first AIDS casualties among their staff became known, Tetra Pak started a calamity fund. This fund is used to pay for the medical costs - including AIDS blocker - of the employees. According to their official health statistics, 4% of their employees have HIV. But Hussein Alwy, the head of Tetra Pak P&O department thinks it is closer to 10%. Some people are able and prepared to pay the high costs of HIV treatment themselves, as long as their condition is kept a secret.
Investing in staff is cheaper than retraining
In Kenya an estimated 25% of the population has HIV. Only a few years ago the Kenyan government admitted that there was an epidemic and since then HIV and AIDS is on the official political agenda. In the neighbouring country of Uganda politicians as well as the people are much more open about this subject. One of the consequences of this openness is a declining number of people getting HIV.
Tetra Pak is one of the few companies in Kenya that is not sacking people when they are diagnosed with HIV but are also paying their extra medical costs. And the reason is very simple: It is cheaper to keep people with HIV on the job and pay for their medical costs then to sack them. Tetra Pak is investing a lot in training their employees; a lot of them are trained abroad. Investing in new people over and over again is much more expensive. Keeping people with HIV employed is good for the employees, good for the economy of Tetra Pak and of Kenya and good for the state of mind of the people working there.
(with thanks to Ilona Eveleens Trouw)
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