UN, partners to strengthen workplace AIDS programmes in Haiti

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and its main partner in Haiti have agreed to cooperate on fighting the epidemic in the country’s workplaces, a UN spokesperson announced today.

The agreement with the local Fondation SOGEBANK, a facilitator for the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, follows last week’s visit by a high level delegation to Haiti, and the release of information, from an ongoing study, of the 20 largest Haitian companies’ response to HIV/AIDS.

The study, part of a larger project launched in 2005 by a request from the UN General Assembly, shows that Haiti’s labour-intensive workplaces such as factories have a greater awareness of, and a more active response to HIV/AIDS than do banks and similar work sites.

To elicit a greater response from industry, UNAIDS and SOGEBANK will consult with business leaders, encouraging information-sharing, joint resource mobilization and a continuous and open dialogue.

“UNAIDS will seek to assist the private sector in establishing ways for an effective, open cooperation to ensure business response that addresses the impacts and dangers of HIV/AIDS on economic growth and development of Haiti,” Assistant Secretary-General and UNAIDS Deputy Director Michel Sidibe said on announcing the new initiatives.

Haiti has the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence rates in the region: 4 to 5 per cent of the population is infected with HIV and male life expectancy is only 52 years.