The Business Case for Partnering HIV/AIDS Prevention Initiatives in SA

'When the Global Business Coalition was established seven years ago, the landscape of the business fight was dramatically different from today. Most of business engagement, though not all, was initiated by individual players with on-the ground interests in sub-Saharan Africa. The first companies to engage were almost exclusively from the extractives, energy and manufacturing industries- those whose bottom lines were most affected by the impact of HIV/AIDS among their workforces. At that time, private sector efforts focused almost entirely on workplace policies and programs, with few extensions into the surrounding community. Pharmaceutical companies, whose products and expertise were most needed on the ground, were also active players in this early stage of business action.' (The Maturing of Business Action, Global Business Coalition)

Calculating the economic and business costs of the pandemic has proven elusive, not surprising given its magnitude, breadth, and duration. Firms are often structured to require individual business units to be profitable, looking first and foremost at the immediate bottom line of investment decisions on their operations.

But many of the more serious costs of the pandemic cannot be measured by traditional cost accounting mechanisms, especially in view of the unpredictable and uncertain nature of the epidemic and its long term effect on the stability of businesses.

Over 90 percent of people with HIV/AIDS are in the most productive period of their lives - young aspirants to the business and career world, workers, managers or employers. According to the International Labour Organisation as many as 36 million of the 39 million people living with HIV are in some form of productive activity.

For anyone doing business in South Africa, 10 - 40 percent of the workforce is likely to be infected with HIV. But the impact and potential impact of HIV/AIDS varies from one company to the next. Labour and capital-intensive industries, as well as those with a high mobility of labour, are most affected. Research in South Africa shows that the mining, metals processing, agribusiness and transport sectors are most affected by the pandemic.

Direct effects on companies would therefore be in the form of directly lower productivity, greater absenteeism, vacant posts, the need to retrain and rehire workers, reduced productivity due to staff inexperience or illness, loss of morale among employees, poor labour relations, less reliable supply chains and distribution channels … the list is endless. Other direct costs to companies depend on whether they offer employment benefits, funeral cover, pensions and in-house medical facilities.

However, what most companies or institutions in the business sector fail to realise is the indirect effect of the HIV/AIDS pandemic on its future labour force and consumer base.

In South Africa, new infection among young people is what still fuels the HIV pandemic, and it's driven by patterns of sexual behaviour skewed towards high risk. This number would only continue to grow unless urgent measures are taken to forestall the situation. In a recent survey, Six in ten South African youths named HIV/AIDS as the most important issue facing young people in the country. Six in ten also were very concerned about becoming infected with HIV in the next 10 years. According to Love Life chief executive officer Dr David Harrison, it is these youngsters who hold the key to turning around South Africa's HIV pandemic.

The youngsters of today are South Africa's future consumers, employees and leaders. This aspect of the country's demographics in the fight against HIV/AIDS is hugely important as the youth of today is the workforce of tomorrow and the foundation of tomorrow's economy. A non business intervention on this issue will ultimately affect the future/long term bottomline. For South Africa to grow economically and otherwise, the youth asset needs to be protected.

One of the ways of protecting this asset is through schools based HIV/AIDS education and prevention programs. Buttressing this point, Johanna Ncala, national treatment literacy coordinator for the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) emphatically said: "We are neglecting the group of people that is so important to reach," "If we don't educate children on HIV, we will face even worse challenges in ten years time than we already do now."

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