Re: Tata Tea & workplace HIV treatment

[Guest guest]

Dear Forum,

Re: " Tata Tea's reluctance to offer HIV treatment "

I would consider looking up some of the South African companies like Anglo

American, Anglo Gold and De Beers who have made a commitment to provide ARVs for

their workers - precisely after taking into account these considerations.

Best regards,

Kalpana

E-mail: gupta_kalpana5@...>

Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report-Mon July 30th 2001

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*Some South African Employers to Begin Providing HIV/AIDS Drugs to

Employees

Some South African Employers to Begin Providing HIV/AIDS Drugs to Em-ployees

Although the South African government has " declined to provide " anti-AIDS drugs

to people in the nation's public health system, some of the nation's largest

employers soon will begin offering the medica-tions to their employees, the

Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Nearly 20% of working-age South Africans have

HIV, and many of the 4.7 mil-lion people infected with HIV cannot afford to

purchase anti-AIDS drugs. Anglo Gold Ltd., the world's largest gold mining

company, is one company that is preparing to provide some of its sick workers

with antiretroviral drugs. About 30% of the company's 50,000 workers are

believed to be infected with HIV. Through a pilot project, the company will

focus on a few hundred miners to determine if it can ad-minister medications on

a broad scale. The project is also designed to evaluate how well workers are

able to " bear up under the added stress of antiretroviral drugs " .

Increasing Testing

Anglo Gold officials say that they hope the program will help to

" persuade " workers to get tested for HIV; workers who test negative

for the virus will be instructed how to prevent HIV/AIDS, and those

workers who test positive for the virus but are found to be " asympto-

matic " will receive medications and instructions on how to " slow the

onset " of the disease. Anglo Gold has run a voluntary testing service

for the last eight years, but few workers have taken advantage of the

program, partly because they fear their testing information could be

used against them. To counter those fears, Anglo Gold now assigns

each person a number, rather than using names on medical files. Fur-

ther, the company has assembled teams of peer educators to encourage

workers to get tested. But some workers who do receive tests and find

out that they are HIV-positive drop out of the company's wellness

program and seek alternative treatments from traditional healers.

Cost-Effectiveness Will Determine Scale of Effort

Whether the pilot program is expanded to a wider scale depends on its

cost-effectiveness, the Inquirer reports. Anglo Gold will spend an

additional $7 million per year -- 0.1% of its revenue -- on AIDS

treatment. The cost of anti-AIDS medications has been reduced by

about five times its original price, but the drugs still remain out

of reach for many workers. At the discounted rate, the drugs cost

about $2 per day; miners make about $10 per day. Gavin Churchyard,

head of Anglo Gold's health research unit said, " There's no quick fix

here, but I do think we can turn it around. It's my opinion the cost

of treatment is less than the cost of not intervening " (Maykuth,

Philadelphia Inquirer, 7/29).

The Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report is published for kaisernetwork.org,