HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS & occupational health

Occupational health is a worldwide responsibility for Unilever and covers:

• access to primary healthcare

• protecting health in the workplace

• ensuring medical fitness for the job, and

• actively promoting health and well-being.

Unilever HIV/AIDS programmes are an integral component of our Occupational Health strategy.

As there is currently no cure for AIDS, education and prevention are critical to halt the spread of the disease and are the main line of defence. These should also be supported by counselling and sustainable programmes to care for those already infected. Therefore, in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Unilever is committed to deploy effective programmes of health education (using our skills in communication), and to secure access to appropriate treatment for our employees at all stages of the disease.

Countries differ greatly in the quality of clinical infrastructure, in national health priorities, and in the cultural sensitivities which surround HIV/AIDS. The role of the private sector varies accordingly–where public health systems prevail, for example, Unilever's contribution will concentrate on education and prevention schemes. Elsewhere, direct involvement in treatment and care may be necessary. Unilever's policies respond to these differences, and adapt to fit local needs. In each country, health professionals are responsible for determining the mix of provision for employees in line with local cultural, social and operating requirements.

Our policies have been furthest developed in sub-Saharan Africa, where the company's programmes have been developed over many years, and are shared widely both with other companies and in society.

Unilever's approach to HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa, Unilever companies have developed a comprehensive framework to manage the HIV/AIDS programme, which addresses the needs of individuals at key stages of prevention and treatment. These are:

• awareness (through educational programmes for all employees)

• prevention (including prevention and treatment of occupational exposures and distribution of condoms)

• establishing HIV status of individuals (through voluntary testing)

• acceptance of status (encouraging HIV positive individuals to seek treatment), and

• treatment and care (including access to anti-retroviral therapy).

In the case of pregnant women, Unilever helps with treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission.

These policies are aligned with the key principles of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS.

Today, across 25 sites in 11 sub-Saharan countries, the company offers free HIV testing, as well as education programmes to raise awareness, teach safe practices and prevent discrimination. Soon it will be mandatory for all managers in those regions to receive HIV-awareness training.

Activity in 2008

• World AIDS Day 1 December

Unilever marked World AIDS Day in December 2008 by signing a commitment that it will not discriminate against HIV positive employees. Our CEO, along with 48 other chief executives, signed the agreement in a bid to end what they describe as the 'stigma' surrounding the condition. In a statement, the group - the Global Business Coalition for AIDS - explained: "Ending stigma is fundamental to winning the fight against HIV/AIDS. Working as a coalition we can play a more effective role in advancing the drive to defeat AIDS than any one company can do individually."

World AIDS Day was again marked by Unilever operations around the world with awareness-raising events for employees across America, Asia and Africa. Workers were involved in a range of activities, including sponsored walks and educational talks at our factories and head offices. In addition, Unilever Indonesia has set up a 'Surabaya Stop Aids' programme to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS prevention for junior and high school students. In Brazil, as in most other HIV/AIDS affected countries, Unilever is a member of the National Business Council which this year is targeting the HIV message to people over the age of 50.

Engaging with others

• Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS

Given the scale of the challenge, our approach is to work in partnership with others, and share expertise and learning. Unilever was one of the founding members of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, which aims to mobilise the networks and resources of multinationals to combat and raise awareness of HIV, tuberculosis and malaria.

• Public-private partnerships

The Dutch Public Private Partnership (PPP) Forum is an informal working group with representatives from Heineken, Shell, Unilever, Zain (formerly Celtel), PharmAccess Foundation and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This group was set up in 2004 with the objective of jointly expanding existing initiatives in the fight against HIV/AIDS in addition to each PPP member’s individual activities. Examples are programmes to create local business councils against AIDS (in Mozambique and Surinam) and joint training sessions and presentations.

A particular initiative that has been stimulated by the PPP Forum is the Health Insurance Fund which was founded in 2007. This has grown into an independent foundation which supports health insurance programmes for low-income groups in Africa.

Currently a new common initiative is being investigated to expand the HIV/AIDS workplace and health insurance programmes to those companies that are part of the supply chains of the PPP companies.

• Co-investment

Co-investment is an innovative approach that consists of leveraging private sector infrastructure and assets to benefit the community beyond the company’s labour force. In Tanzania, one example of co-investment is the collaboration of the national government, various international organisations, NGOs and the private sector – Unilever Tea Tanzania Ltd to scale up HIV/AIDS treatment. Read more in our case study.

• Grote Onderneming

Unilever also engages with Grote Onderneming, a Dutch organisation working to tackle HIV/AIDS.

We also take part in international conferences such as the International Aids Conference and share our learnings with other businesses – our programmes are available as models on both the Global Business Coalition and the Global Health Initiative websites.