115421205-PRESENTATION-HIV-AIDS-in-the-Workplace.pdf

HIV AIDS PREVENTION

1. HIV/AIDS at workplace:
Protecting yourself
Dr Jean-Jacques BERNATAS, ADB Medical Center
World AIDS Day
01 December 2012
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this paper/presentation are the views of the author and do
not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), or its Board
of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy of the
data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use.
Terminology used may not necessarily be consistent with ADB official terms.

2. HIV/AIDS at workplace: protection in 7
points
•Discrimination and promotion of equality of
opportunity and treatment
•Prevention
•Treatment and care
•Support
•Testing, privacy and confidentiality
•Occupational safety and health
•Children and young persons

3. Discrimination and promotion of equality of
opportunity and treatment: ground foundation
of protection

•As an employee:
–protecting myself from misbehavior that could
discourage another employee to get support or access
to prevention or treatment

•As an employer:
– “zero discrimination” on real or perceived HIV status/
recruitment, termination
– to accommodate workload, workplace as much as
possible
– to take measures in/through the workplace to
prevent HIV transmission.

4. Prevention: protecting myself “stricto sensu”
•As an employee:
–Access to accurate, up-to-date relevant information
–Access to education – women and men – to understand and reduce the risk of
HIV transmission; access to measures to reduce high-risk behaviors, including
MARP
–Access to VCT
–Access to all means of prevention, as well as PeP
•As an employer:
–Effective occupational safety and health measures
–Offer access to information, education, means of prevention, VCT, access to
PeP
–Awareness –raising on high-risk behaviors, including for the most at-risk
groups
–Awareness and promotion of harm reduction strategies
 Connection to public health authorities, civil society, and NGOs to
get the most relevant and accurate support

5. Treatment and care: it is about protecting
everyone
•As an employee:
–Access to appropriate health services: VCT, ART, nutrition,
HIV-related illnesses including opportunistic infections and
STIs.
–Access to support and prevention programs for PLwH,
including psychological support.

•As an employer:
–To ensure workers – and dependents – living with HIV full
access to curative and preventive health care.
–“Zero discrimination” based on real or perceived HIV status
in access to health care and coverage of medical expenses,
disability, and death and survivors’ benefits.

6. Supporting is protecting
•As an employee:
–Supporting in the workplace the coworkers infected or affected by
HIV/AIDS; no rules, but getting the right information will help to get
the right attitude …
–The exemple should come from the top

•As an employer:
–Promotion of the retention in work and recruitment of persons living
with HIV.
–Extension of support through periods of employment and
unemployment: what is the best we can do for the staff?
–HIV infection as an occupational disease or accident when justified.
–Reasonable accommodation in the workplace for persons living with
HIV or HIV-related illnesses, with due regard to national conditions

7. Testing, privacy and confidentiality
•As an employee:
–To have free access to VCT without any fear about job access, job
security or opportunities for advancement
•As an employer:
–To offer a free and genuinely voluntary testing, respecting every
worker’s confidentiality
–HIV testing or other forms of screening for HIV should not be required
of workers
–The results of HIV testing should be confidential and not endanger
access to jobs, tenure, job security or opportunities for advancement.
–Workers, including migrant workers, jobseekers and job applicants,
should not be required by countries of origin, of transit or of
destination to disclose HIV related information about themselves or
others.

8. Occupational safety and health
•As an employee:
–To have access to the appropriate information about mode of
transmission of HIV and its real risk in the workplace: HIV is not
transmitted by casual physical contact and that the presence of a
person living with HIV should not be considered a workplace hazard.
•As an employer
–To ensure a safe and healthy working environment in order to prevent
transmission of HIV in the workplace:
•universal precautions,
•accident and hazard prevention measures,
•environmental control measures and post exposure prophylaxis and other
safety measures to minimize the risk of contracting HIV and tuberculosis.
–When there is a possibility of exposure to HIV at work, workers should
receive education and training on modes of transmission and
measures to prevent exposure and infection

9. Children and young persons
•Mainly an employer’s matter and every
employee’s awareness:
–To actively participate in the fight against child labour
and child trafficking
–To protect young workers against HIV infection, and to
include the special needs of children and young
persons in the response to HIV and AIDS in national
policies and programs.

10. HIV/AIDS at workplace: a recent
international standard
The first international labour
standard on HIV and AIDS in the
world of work, was adopted by
governments, employers’ and
workers’ representatives from
ILO member States at the
International Labour Conference
in June 2010.

11. Preventing yourself in the workplace: “Yes we
can”, if everyone understands the change of
paradigm about HIV/AIDS
•What is the shift of paradigm about HIV/AIDS?
–A shift from the historical notion of an “acute deadly infectious
disease” to the new evidence of a “chronic (infectious) disease”
–With an appropriate access to ARV and care, the life expectancy is
increasing substantially.
–With an appropriate access to ARV and care, an almost normal
professional life is possible
–To be considered with a similar impact on work attendance as
diabetes, COPD, or other chronic illnesses
Appropriate access to treatment and care is to the
benefit of both employers and HIV-infected workers
The best way to protect your(our)self is to know
your(our) HIV status

12. Preventing yourself in the workplace: “Yes we
can”, with a relevant workplace policy and
program on HIV/AIDS
•How to take into account the shift of paradigm from “acute
deadly infectious disease” to “chronic (infectious) disease” at
workplace?
–To make a better awareness-raising to employees and
employers
–To implement a participatory approach when a company and its
employees decide to set up a HIV/AIDS program in the
workplace
–To seek for local support: public health authorities, civil society
and NGOs
–Companies to contribute to full access to prevention and
treatment and to actively participate to reach the triple “Zero
New Infections. Zero Discrimination. Zero AIDS-Related
Deaths” goal right away.