Meeting the Challenge: Canada's Foreign Policy on HIV/AIDS - With a Particular Focus on Africa

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Appendix - Business Organizations and Resources

This appendix contains: (a) a list of international organizations that have experience with HIV/AIDS workplace issue; and (b) a list of resources on how businesses and business organizations have confronted AIDS.

Organizations

Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC)

The GBC is an alliance of international businesses dedicated to combating the HIV/AIDS epidemic through the business sector's unique skills and expertise. Its mission is to increase significantly the number of companies committed to tackling HIV/AIDS, and to making business a valued partner in the global efforts against the epidemic. One of the goals of the GBC is to increase the range and quality of business sector AIDS programs - both in the workplace and in the broader community. The GBC identifies new opportunities for businesses, supports the development of AIDS strategies by individual companies and encourages governments, the international community and the non-governmental sector to partner with the business sector.

Website: www.businessfightsaids.org/

Global Health Initiative of the World Economic Forum (GHI)

The World Economic Forum is funded by contributions from 1,000 of the world's leading companies. The Forum established the GHI, whose mission is to increase the quantity and quality of business programs fighting HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The GHI website contains a number of resources, including some case studies. At the time of writing, the website's featured case study was IBM South Africa's Response to HIV/AIDS. Other companies profiled through case studies include Barrick Gold, Daimler Chrysler, Chevron Texaco, BMW and AngloGold.

Website: http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm

The Canadian Alliance for Business in South Africa (CABSA)

The CABSA is a public and private partnership program of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters and is supported by funding from the Canadian Government and the Canadian International Development Agency's Industrial Co-operation Program (CIDA INC). The CABSA's objective is to promote long-term strategic alliances between Canadian and South African firms. These alliances are typically in the form of joint ventures, which involve the transfer of Canadian technology, expertise and/or capital. The CABSA has been operating for seven years with offices in Johannesburg and Toronto. The CABSA has commissioned a paper on HIV/AIDS and business in South Africa (see below). Other than that, the CABSA has not undertaken any AIDS-specific initiatives. Contact information for the CABSA is as follows:

• Nola Kianza, CABSA Project Manager, Tel.: 905-568-8300 x277, Email: nola.kianza@cme-mec.ca
• Deborah Turnbull, Project Director and Vice President International, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, Email: deborah.turnbull@cme-mec.ca
• Ronelle Dinsmore, CABSA Project Director, South Africa Office, dinsmore@mweb.co.za  

Website: www.cabsa.net

Resources

Brookings Institution. The Economic Impact of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa (Conference Report No. 9). September 2001. Available on the Brookings website at www.brookings.edu.

This publication summarizes the findings of a conference organized in June 2001 by the Brookings Institution, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, Prince of Wales Business Leaders Forum. The Business Response to HIV/AIDS: Impact and Lessons Learned. 2000. Available on the GBC website at www.businessfightsaids.org/pdf/Impacts.pdf.

This publication is designed to provide assistance to business and associated partners in recognizing the business case for further action against HIV/AIDS in the workplace and beyond. The publication is divided into five sections: (a) background information on HIV/AIDS, facts and trends, and a brief description of the response to date by the public and non-governmental sectors; (b) information on the impact that HIV/AIDS has on business, at the macroeconomic and individual company levels; (c) an overview of the broad areas of activity by business in response to HIV/AIDS, with guidance on how to develop HIV/AIDS policies and programs; (d) an examination of the factors that create and maintain successful partnerships in response to HIV/AIDS; and (e) information in the form of profiles (case studies) of 17 organizations that have responded to HIV/AIDS, plus the key lessons learned from these responses. This publication also includes a two-page Tool for Managers, which sets out for managers who want to develop a workplace response to HIV/AIDS the guiding principles to be considered, the planning process, the policy options and the assistance available.

Global Health Initiative, International Labour Organization, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Action Against AIDS in the Workplace (Workplace Reference Menu). Available on the GHI website via www.weforum.org
Initiative%5CGHI+Business+Tools%5CGHI+Best+Practice+Guidelines. (Click on the HIV/AIDS Workplace Reference Menu for Africa.)

These three organizations have produced menus for two affected regions: Africa and Asia-Pacific. The menus describe the impact of HIV/AIDS on businesses and provide information of how businesses have responded. They describe the key components of an AIDS workplace policy, as well as the steps required to implement the policy. The menus review the key principles from the International Labour Organization's ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work (see below) and explain how these principles apply in a business setting. The menus also provide a list of businesses and other organizations that have developed HIV/AIDS impact assessment tools.

Health Canada (International Affairs Directorate). Enhancing Canadian Business Involvement in the Global Response to HIV/AIDS. 2002. Available on the Health Canada website via www.hc-sc.gc.ca/datapcb/iad/ih_hivaids-e.htm.

Much of the content of this publication is taken from The Business Response to HIV/AIDS: Impact and Lessons Learned (see Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS). The publication describes the impact of HIV/AIDS on businesses and discusses how businesses have responded at a global level, and at the level of individual companies. The publication provides key lessons learned from the experiences of 16 companies that have adopted measures to deal with the epidemic. Finally, the publication provides a list of relevant resources (both organizations and publications).

International Labour Organization. The ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. Available on the ILO website via www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/code/codemain.htm.

The ILO Code provides practical guidance to policy-makers, employers organizations and workers organizations for formulating and implementing appropriate workplace policy, prevention and care programs. It contains a list of fundamental principles for policy development and practical guidelines from which concrete responses can be developed at enterprise, community and national levels in the following key areas: (a) prevention of HIV/AIDS; (b) management and mitigation of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the world of work; (c) care and support of workers infected and affected by HIV/AIDS; and (d) elimination of stigma and discrimination on the basis of real or perceived HIV status. The ILO website also contains a training manual on how to use the ILO Code.

International Organisation of Employers, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. Employers Handbook on HIV/AIDS: A Guide to Action. May 2002. Available on the website of the United States Council for International Business at www.uscib.org/docs/ioe_aids_handbook.pdf.

This publication describes the impact of HIV/AIDS on the business environment and on individual companies. It provides guidelines for how employers' organizations and individual companies should respond to the epidemic. Finally, it provides examples of HIV/AIDS initiatives undertaken by employers organizations and individual companies.

Pronyk P. et al (University of Witwatersrand). HIV/AIDS and Business in South Africa: Interventions, opportunities and the private sector response to the epidemic. Report prepared for the Canadian Alliance for Business in South Africa. March 2002. Available on the university's website at www.wits.ac.za/radar/PDF%20files/CABSAreport.PDF

This publication is intended to provide a starting point, as seen through the lens of public health and economics, from which business partnerships might better plan for the inevitability of HIV/AIDS. The publication describes the impact of HIV/AIDS on business in South Africa. It presents some best practice guidelines for the development of workplace AIDS policies, and provides an overview of existing efforts within the private sector to respond to the epidemic. Finally, the publication provides a review of general (i.e., not workplace-specific) interventions for the prevention and management of HIV/AIDS.

University of Witwatersand (School of Mining Engineering, Johannesburg, South Africa), Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (Stellenbosch, South Africa). HIV/AIDS, the Mining and Minerals Sector and Sustainable Development in South Africa. Available on the university's website.

This publication examines the effects of HIV/AIDS on the mining and minerals sector in southern Africa and provides information on the approaches and strategies used by various players in the sector to cope with the disease. The publication also summarizes the key elements required to enable the sector to sustainably manage the epidemic.

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