Lanka Business Coalition kicks off 2012 HIV and AIDS awareness programme

• Asia Pacific Business Coalition on AIDS CEO attends event

The Lanka Business Coalition for HIV and AIDS (LBCH) on Monday launched its HIV and AIDS awareness campaign for this year at an event graced by the CEO of its umbrella Asia Pacific organisation.

Stephen Grant, CEO of the Asia Pacific Business Coalition on AIDS (APBCA) and LCBH President Dr. Kishu Gomes handed over a bright red pillow inscribed with the message ‘Pass on Awareness, not HIV’ to Anirvan Ghosh Dastidar, CEO of Standard Chartered PLC in Sri Lanka, signifying a challenge for the organisation to take forward the AIDS awareness programme.
Standard Chartered Bank is one of over 60 member organisations of LBCH, which have come together with a commitment to educate their employees about HIV and AIDS, and the first to receive this symbolic cushion.
Standard Chartered Bank has a pool of HIV trainers amongst its staff that are fully conversant in communicating on HIV and AIDS. These trainers are used throughout the island to train students, work groups, NGO’s and communities.
The goal of LBCH is to leverage the business community to make a committed response to mitigate the threat of HIV and AIDS in the workplace and community. It provides a platform from which policies and awareness programmes can be coordinated and executed efficiently by pooling resources and knowledge that exists within the business community.
LBCH works with its members to ensure that each of the organisations has an HIV and AIDS Workplace Policy in place, and provides on-going customised awareness programmes. Professional trainers conduct these programmes at no cost to member organisations.
Gomes elucidated the impact of the potential threat from the epidemic on the nation’s workforce when he stated: “The biggest asset we have as a nation are the eight million people in the workforce, and we as business leaders should recognise the AIDs issue and own it for a solution through early mitigation action. While Sri Lanka is considered a low prevalence country, given that the country’s economic growth is centred around tourism, foreign employment, trade, exports related travelling, etc., our workforce has become highly vulnerable. The triple bottom-line focus with adequate attention to people is the way forward and we need to protect our people if we are to honour our commitment as business leaders.”
Grant spoke on the role of the APBCA in working together with member organisations in the region on workplace education and awareness creation. Dr. Geethani Samaraweera, Assistant Venereologist, National STD/AIDS control programme also participated in the event to provide an overview of the country situation with regards to HIV and AIDS.
According to statistics, nine out of 10 people living with HIV and AIDS globally are in the work force, which if not addressed, will threaten workplace productivity.
As the number of patients reported in Sri Lanka is on the rise, with two new HIV cases reported every week, there is a need to recognise the magnitude of the issue and make a concerted effort on spreading awareness to mitigate the threat.
The creative concept for LBCH’s new awareness campaign was devised by the leading advertising and PR agency Bates Strategic Alliance, which supports LBCH in its publicity.