Corporations are increasing their involvement in fighting HIV/AIDS, both as a dimension of social responsibility and as an effort to protect their workforce and clientele.
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| Botswana's comparative success in fighting HIV is founded on diamonds, the same natural resource that underpins the country's economic and social stability. Photo Credit: Leah Hazard |
Botswana has become a regional leader for both responsible government and successful HIV/AIDS prevention policies. Despite having made significant progress, Botswana remains in the grasp of AIDS, with 270,000 afflicted citizens. A key catalyst in moving forward thus far has been the involvement of the private sector and in particular, the diamond-exporting De Beers company, the countries number one employer. As a 50/50 partnership with the Botswana Government under the name Debswana, De Beers has taken the initiative to construct a HIV/AIDS clinic in the mining town of Jwaneng that now treats over 3,100 patients with Anti-retroviral drugs. Projects like these and so much more have led Debswana to be seen as a positive corporate example. While certainly concerned about how poor health can debilitate their workforce and hurt business, the company highly prioritizes the moral concern for fighting the scourge of AIDS.
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Contributed by Benji Wilson, editorial contributer to The Lancet Infectious Diseases publication. Reprinted with permission from The Lancet.com.
To read another Global Envision article about businesses fighting HIV/AIDS, see
Joining the HIV Battle Makes Good Business.
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Comments
Sweden
HIV/Aids is a huge devastation for our next generation, for countries growth prosperity and social structure. Parents are disappearing, leaving children with responsibilities that often restricts children from basic rights such as education, this in it self being a vital part in the future uprising of a country. This epidemic, a word I wish to use, is not as known, focused on enough, due to the fact that it primarily strikes "lower classes". Now as the article states, government/companies realize that all citizens contribute to the economy in various forms, loosing a generation will have devastating effects on the national economy. But why is it not until the devastation can be noticed economically that it is strongly focused on? I am not surprised, wish I could be, it is just another evidence for our worlds obsession of money, something, which I believe will be the fall of it too.
It is of course great that action on this matter is being taken, but one should always see to the incentive, this aid can stop whenever the incentive in question is reached, when workers are not scarce.