Businesses failing to address Aids threat

1.01pm

GENEVA - Business leaders around the globe fail to recognise the threat to their companies' future posed by the Aids epidemic, the Swiss-based World Economic Forum (WEF) said today.

Citing results of an opinion survey among executives, the WEF said it showed business was not yet playing a significant role in fighting the disease which the United Nations says has infected five million new victims this year.

Further, even company chiefs who expressed concern about the present and future impact of Aids on their businesses and the communities they serve had generally failed to implement measures to counter the menace, it added.

The WEF, which has its headquarters in Geneva, organises the an annual gathering of top business and political figures in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos. The survey was issued to coincide with World Aids Day.

According to estimates from the United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids), 40 million adults are living with HIV/Aids all over the world, of whom an estimated 26.6 million are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Of nearly 8000 firms surveyed in 103 countries, the WEF said, only 21 per cent felt that HIV/Aids would have a severe impact on their business, while 47 per cent felt it would have "some impact".

The danger-awareness figures were much lower in countries not yet badly hit by the disease.

In sub-Saharan Africa, which the United Nations says is the worst-hit region, 89 per cent of firms thought it would have some negative effect on their business, while in the Middle East and North Africa the figure dropped to 33 per cent.

Even among firms with formal policies on the issue, some 25 per cent may demand employees or prospective employees reveal if they have the disease and do not specifically prohibit barring job offers to HIV/Aids sufferers.

Some 22 per cent do not ban discrimination against victims of the disease when promotions, pay increases and increased benefits are being considered -- all in contradiction to standards set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).

In a comment to be issued with the full report, UNAids Executive Director Peter Piot said the survey showed the huge size of the task facing campaigners in heightening perceptions of the menace to global economic and social stability.

The threat was not only to sub-Saharan Africa, and the survey's results highlighted "the urgent need for businesses in other parts of the world, particularly in Asia, to take action now," Piot declared.

- REUTERS