IFC Takes a Proactive Approach on HIV/AIDS

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the first reported cases of AIDS. According to the United Nations' 2006 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, over time HIV has spread relentlessly from a few widely scattered “hot spots” to virtually every country in the world, infecting 65 million people and killing 25 million. The report also shows that the world is at a defining moment in its response to the AIDS crisis, with all the big players joining to make real headway to combat the pandemic.

In 2000, IFC launched the IFC Against AIDS program to accelerate the involvement of its clients in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The mission is to protect people and profitability by serving as a risk management partner, HIV/AIDS expert, and catalyst for action where the disease is threatening sustainable development.

This year’s World AIDS Day came at a time when IFC had just held a conference in South Africa, dedicated to addressing HIV/AIDS in the workplace for its client companies based in Africa. The conference brought together participants from 14 client companies in seven countries.

The objective was to help the companies share experiences and learn from each other, as well as to deepen the partnership between these companies and the IFC Against AIDS initiative.

Conference sessions addressed aspects of setting up a typical HIV/AIDS workplace program:

Building sound program foundations and effective peer education programs Understanding the components of wellness, treatment, and care interventions, including voluntary HIV counseling and testing Recognizing the practical applications of monitoring and evaluation

As part of the event, clients made presentations describing their HIV/AIDS programs, explaining why they got involved, describing the challenges they face, and highlighting significant milestones in implementing their programs.

Companies commended for their presentations included Kenyan firms I&M Bank and Magadi Soda Company, Mozambique’s Spectrum Graphics Limitada, Nigeria’s MTN, Tanzania’s Bonite Bottlers Ltd, and Uganda’s Development Finance Company.

In his remarks, Laurence Carter, Director of IFC’s Small and Medium Enterprise Department, said, “The companies showed that the energy, resources, and management capacity of the private sector are crucial in helping workers and communities in the fight against HIV/AIDS.”

The IFC Against AIDS program is structured around three pillars of action: guidance, training, and development and research.

Guidance
Primarily in Africa, we equip relatively large client companies with the skills, tools, and support needed to develop, implement, and manage effective HIV programs in their workplaces and surrounding communities. We offer systematic hands-on training of client AIDS committees and focal points to build their capacity to address HIV/AIDS at work. We also train representatives of select nongovernmental organizations across Africa to enable them to be appropriate resources and partners to the private sector, and especially to IFC clients.

Training
Many small and medium enterprises lack financial, clinical, and human resource capacity to engage in HIV education, prevention, and care initiatives. In Africa, where SMEs often account for most of a country’s private sector, IFC Against AIDS and the Private Enterprise Partnership for Africa (PEP Africa) have developed a training program to build the capacity of these businesses to mitigate the impact of AIDS on their operations. PEP Africa, IFC’s vehicle for technical assistance to develop Africa’s private sector, works with the private sector, governments, and donors.

Development and Research
Our role here includes: to engage systematically with sectors not traditionally involved in HIV and AIDS, but where IFC has strong leverage, including financial markets and advisory services on privatization; and to catalyze action in regions where the HIV epidemic is at an early stage but threatens sustainable development.

The Importance of Monitoring and Evaluation
IFC Against AIDS used its first client conference to shed more light on how to apply its Practical Guide to Monitoring and Evaluating Corporate HIV/AIDS Programs, which it introduced to client companies in early 2006.

The session found that monitoring and evaluation are key to making corporate HIV/AIDS programs sustainable. A participant from Kenya's Serena Hotels, a firm that has been implementing a workplace program since 2002, explained how monitoring and evaluation data helped reduce the hotel's health insurance premiums by 6 million shillings (about $85,000). “In the last three years we have not had any new HIV infection among the 1,200 employees who were in employment when we started the program,” said Catherine Waruhiu, the company’s human resource manager.

A Global Effort
With Africa as the cornerstone of its work, the IFC Against AIDS program is tailoring its approach to several other regions where HIV/AIDS is threatening sustainable development.

India
Since early 2005, IFC Against AIDS has been demonstrating how India’s private enterprises can partner with the government and nongovernmental organizations to curb the epidemic. This means raising clients’ ability to address HIV/AIDS in their workplaces, their company clinical facilities, and their communities. Efforts to date cover a wide geographic area and numerous sectors, which should enhance the scope of lessons learned.

Russia
AIDS continues to be a source of concern in Russia due to the increasing number of infections. IFC Against AIDS is partnering with other organizations to assess the conditions of any private sector response.

In the meantime, IFC Against AIDS is conducting a perception study of occupational health and HIV/AIDS that will form the basis of the program's approach and engagement going forward with clients in the Russian Federation. Findings will determine how we proceed to engage clients.

China
IFC Against AIDS has been paying close attention to the epidemic in China. We are looking to leverage our reach to private clients and relaying to them the efforts of the Chinese government to face HIV/AIDS. A first step toward this objective is the launch of an IFC briefing book on HIV/AIDS in China, issued in November 2006. The book is targeted at the private sector and will be distributed to all IFC clients in the country.

Read the briefing book in Chinese and English [pdf].

Listen to clients' reactions to the first IFC Against AIDS Client Conference.

For more information visit www.ifc.org/ifcagainstaids or contact:

Martin Lutalo
Tel: (202) 458-1406
E-mail: MLutalo@ifc.org