ARVs: Ball in Corporate World's Court
Sifelani Tsiko
2004-06-18
ZIMBABWE'S corporate sector needs to take serious steps to help workers access anti-retroviral drugs to ensure the sustainability of the country's fight against the HIV and Aids pandemic, analysts say.
ZIMBABWE'S corporate sector needs to take serious steps to help workers access anti-retroviral drugs to ensure the sustainability of the country's fight against the HIV and Aids pandemic, analysts say.
Most businesses in the country have lost several employees to the pandemic, leading to a decline in productivity. Anything coming in, in the fight against HIV and Aids is welcome, says Mr Albert Manenji, the acting director of the National Aids Council.
A total of 7 billion has been set aside for the provision of ARVs. Any help that may come in is welcome in this fight against the pandemic.
Multinationals and other big firms in South Africa are said to have now put mechanisms in place to give ARVs to workers, helping several of them to recover sufficiently to return to work. Health experts say such programmes were most effective when corporate leadership played a direct role in promoting Aids awareness and treatment.
This, they say, helps people living with the disease to overcome stigma associated with Aids and encourages people to go for testing or to seek medical help.
Standard Chartered Bank chief executive and Zimbabwe Business Council on Aids chairman Washington Matsaira says a number of local companies within the council have now taken up the initiative to buy ARVs for their own workers.
Yes, there are there, he says. A number of companies within our council are already participating in this scheme to distribute ARVs to their employees. The motivation, the reason for this trust (council on Aids) comes as a result of the challenges brought about as a result of the menace of the pandemic.
The corporate world, he says, should complement the Government to ensure broad public access to
ARVs. Collectively we can make a difference, he says. We can really make an impact in both our businesses and the community at large.
However, he could not readily give figures on the number of companies that had started rolling out drugs to their employees within the 16-member Zimbabwe Business Council on Aids.
But labour unionists say they have not heard about local companies that are now providing workers with ARVs. There isn't any that I know of, says Mr Collen Gwiyo, the acting secretary-general of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions. If they are any (companies) then it is for the better.
It is generally a responsibility of the National Aids Council. The NAC is collecting levies from workers and they must ensure that workers access
ARVs.
He says the union welcomes any efforts by companies to treat their employees given the difficult economic circumstances that Zimbabwe finds itself in. If they can, it is quite positive. It's a shop floor issue in which workers can negotiate as a benefit, Mr Gwiyo says.
But it's important to say that workers are not accessing ARVs because the NAC uses the levy for different purposes and does not make this a priority. Mr Matsaira says most businesses are aware of the serious implication the HIV and Aids pandemic has had on productivity and revenue generation capacity.
I would be surprised if there are companies that think that this issue (ARV treatment) should be left to the National Aids Council alone, he says. There is a keen awareness of the serious impact of the pandemic on the business sector.
The Government started giving out ARVs at the country's two major referral hospitals - Harare Central Hospital and Mpilo Hospital in Bulawayo - in March this year, a move that has brought in a ray of hope to people living with HIV and Aids.
A total of 171 000 people living with HIV and Aids are expected to get free anti-retrovirals under the World Health Organisation's 3 by 5 initiative. Health experts estimate that 1,8 million Zimbweans are living with HIV and Aids and out of this figure, a staggering 600 000 need to be put on ARVs.
We have started rolling out ARVs to people living with HIV but we would like to reach many more people and this can only be made possible through organisations as the Red Cross as it has made a commitment in providing the drugs in the region, Health and Child Welfare Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa was quoted as saying.
Given the experiences learnt from Brazil, Haiti and other countries, he says, Zimbabwe should seize the availability of ARVs in the country to ensure that people living with HIV and Aids are productive once more and fend for their families.
Health experts say ARVs do not offer a cure for Aids, but are nevertheless an effective tool for limiting its effects. They say ARVs increase the quality of life of people living with the pandemic by delaying the onset of Aids and reduce their susceptibility to opportunistic infections.
This, they argue, diminishes the burden sufferers place on society and goes a long way to controlling the disease by decreasing the fear of being infected. WHO in 2003 reported that there were 3,5 million new cases of HIV and Aids in Africa.
East and Southern Africa were the hardest hit regions in Africa having 38 percent of 3,5 million cases on the continent.
The pandemic has claimed the lives of more than 17 million Africans and has affected 25 million others living with the disease. Although ARVs are now being distributed to patients on the continent, greater challenges related to affordability, access and continuity still lie ahead.
It is estimated that only one percent of those infected by HIV in sub-Saharan Africa have access to drugs, a situation that casts a shadow on efforts to reduce absenteeism from work and rising health care costs for workers.
UNAids estimates that four countries in sub-Saharan Africa will see workforces shrink by as much as 30 percent by 2020 because of HIV while another 14 will see losses of 10 to 30 percent.
The daily costs of one the ARV therapies in most parts of the continent are estimated to range between US5 and U10, which the majority of workers living with the pandemic cannot afford. Analysts say multinational companies in the country must lead the way by helping workers access drugs.
Multinationals have made millions of dollars in this country and workers are now only asking something very little out of this, says a labour analyst.
It will be easy for other smaller companies to follow suit despite the difficult economic situation prevailing in the country. Critics charge that if multinationals can provide drugs in countries like South Africa, Botswana and Namibia, there is no reason why they should not do the same in Zimbabwe.
There are many hurdles that must be overcome in the distribution of ARVs and these include human resource constraints, implication of alternative monitoring protocols, drug regimens, resource mobilisation and meeting targets.
But when the corporate world takes the lead in the fight against the pandemic, it can make a difference especially in circumstances where the Government on its own is overwhelmed by demand for various health services.
Making profit makes sense, but with the growing menace of the HIV and Aids pandemic, tackling health matters makes greater sense for business.(Source: The Herald, June 15, 2004)
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