BUSINESS FIGHTING HIV/AIDS

The Ethiopian Business Coalition on AIDS (EBCA),

 established in 2004, aims to respond to the challenges of HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The Coalition seeks to transform the business response to HIV/AIDS, promoting HIV prevention, care and treatment programs for the workplace and innovative partnerships with governments and civil society.

INCREASED ACTION BY BUSINESS

In advocating for greater business action on AIDS, the EBCA believes that business can respond in five main ways:

• Develop HIV/AIDS policies for their workplaces

• Train managers to conduct HIV/AIDS workshops

• Educate staff/workers about basic facts about HIV/AIDS and its effect on the workplace

• Educate staff/workers' families

• Promote community service and volunteerism

The World Economic Forum reports that only six per cent of companies around the world have an HIV/AIDS workplace programme.  Although there is no data, EBCA’s President Kebour Ghenna says, except for handful companies, Ethiopia's small and medium-sized companies operate in the dark, with no systematic approach to HIV/AIDS.

Sponsors:

Beginning    2005     EBCA introduces   the   Award for Business Distinction, and the Award for Individual Excellence to recognize creative business responses to HIV and AIDS in companies operating in Ethiopia