ILO's Tripartite Action on HIV/AIDS in India

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ILO's Tripartite Action on HIV/AIDS in India

India has an estimated 3.97 million People Living with HIV/AIDS

(PLWHA) at the end of 2001. The maximum number of infections (89%)

have been reported from the most productive 15-49 age group.

HIV/AIDS, therefore, has emerged as a major threat to the world of

work.

This highlights the need for immediate efforts to protect some 400

million workers in India from the deadly virus. The main challenge is

to reach out to the more vulnerable informal sector labour, which

forms more than 90% of the total workforce in India.

The ILO, in consultation with its Indian tripartite constituents and

the National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), has developed a three-

phased programme, aimed at establishing a sustainable national action

on HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support in the world of work.

The first phase of the project, implemented with financial support

from the US Department of Labor (USDOL), aimed at mobilizing the

ILO's tripartite partners (government, employers' and workers'

organizations) and developing a Plan of Action for the Phase-II. The

Phase-I was implemented from June 2001 till the end of 2002. V.V.

Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI), NOIDA, which also houses the

Technical Resource Group for workplace interventions under the

National AIDS Control Programme, is the nodal implementing agency.

The project is now embarking on the second phase, also supported by

USDOL with a comprehensive Plan of Action for implementation in

Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, the three selected states

of India.

Notable features of the ILO-India HIV/AIDS Project:

Guidance to the project by a high level Project Management Team,

comprising representatives from the Ministry of Labour-Government of

India, NACO, employers' and workers' organizations, VVGNLI, Joint

United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), PLWHA and ILO;

Mainstreaming HIV/AIDS within the Ministry of Labour (MOL), GOI. This

involves collaboration with the National Labour Institute, the

Central Board for Workers' Education (CBWE) and other key

institutions/programmes of MOL;

Mobilization of partners through stakeholders' meetings,

consultations and seminars, in order to senstize the social partners

on HIV/AIDS in the context of the world of work;

Research based advocacy: documentation of corporate responses to

HIV/AIDS, compilation and dissemination of existing research studies

on HIV/AIDS in the world of work, and initiation of action research

projects;

Facilitate closer collaboration between action undertaken at

enterprise level and State/ District AIDS Control Societies (SACS);

Technical support to partners (MOL, trade unions, employers'

organizations, enterprises, NGOs, SACS) to strengthen their response

capacity for developing and implementing an expanded world of work

response to HIV/AIDS;

Developing and demonstrating an expanded world of work response to

HIV/AIDS in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand;

Promote the adoption of the ILO's Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and

the world of work and promote an improved policy framework;

Coordinate with UNAIDS and NACO in setting up state level business

coalitions: and

Collaboration with networks of People Living with HIV/AIDS.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. S.M. Afsar, National Project Coordinator, ILO, New Delhi

Tel: +91-11-24602101/2/3 Extension 241, fax: +91-11-24602111

Email: safsar@...

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/newdelhi/aids/