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Raising awareness on HIV and AIDS in the workplace demonstrates an organisation’s commitment to being a good corporate citizen. It also demonstrates its sense of moral obligation to the well-being of its employees, customers, and the wider community in which they function.


Global surveys reveal that HIV/AIDS has reached pandemic proportions due to its unchecked growth caused primarily by a lack of awareness. No country has escaped the spread of this deadly disease, and if this trend continues, it is bound to have serious consequences on the world’s future employable population.


Although Sri Lanka is considered a low prevalence country, research indicates that widespread poverty and armed conflict could be a trigger for the rapid spread of  HIV/AIDS. Where these two factors exist simultaneously, HIV/AIDS can become a developmental setback and undo up to four decades of economic progress.


Until recently, the curbing of the spread of HIV/AIDS had been totally vested with the government, activist groups and the public health community. It has now become evident that these entities need support to sustain and progress with this daunting task.  In response, the business community has taken the initiative and has become a driving force in creating awareness; the seriousness of HIV/AIDS and preventive measures.  Being a part of this response is not only a show of good corporate governance, but is also one of corporate self-interest, by way of preserving a healthy workforce.


We can learn from the experiences of other businesses and should heed the warning made to business leaders by Dr Brian Brink, Medical Director for the South African mining conglomerate Anglo American, who said:


“Don’t make the same mistake we made in South Africa – we saw this coming but the first reaction of businesses was that it wasn’t our problem, that it wasn’t threatening us now, that we’d let the government sort it out.”


The Challenge


Sri Lanka has a number of programmes and organisations that  address HIV/AIDS in the workplace and its broader impact such as the National STD/AIDS Control Programme of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labour, ILO, UNAIDS, Chambers of Commerce, and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon. In addition, a National AIDS Committee has finalised the National AIDS Policy, a tripartite declaration signed by the government, employers organisations and trade unions for the National Strategic Plan for Prevention of HIV/AIDS.

There have been numerous individual success stories of business responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic; however, this is inadequate when the broader picture is considered. What is required is that businesses need to support the national response to HIV/AIDS by incorporating it as a part of its operational procedure.


Even though isolated centres of expertise, resources, and material are available on HIV/AIDS, there is a lack of engagement by the business community as well as a deficiency in accessing resources and prevalent best practices. Thus, the need of the hour to combat this crisis is a single entity that will act as a catalyst between the government, NGOs, the business community and the public.