Companies join hands to fight AIDS

Companies in West Bengal like Indian Oil, State Bank of India, Gujarat Ambuja Cements , Texmaco , Britannia Industries, ITC, State Bank of India, Castrol, Hindustan Copper and the government's Gun and Shell Factory have joined hands to create awareness and prevent HIV/AIDS in the workplace as a part of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) India project on 'Prevention of HIV/AIDS in the workplace' in association with the West Bengal Labour Institute.

The project will have involvement of the government, workers and employers to create awareness and work towards protecting the rights of workers after detection.

"We have 6,52,000 insured factory worker patients under the Employees State Insurance Cooperation (ESIC)," said Dr S R Saha of ESIC Kolkata.

Till date, 250 doctors and 300 paramedic staff have been sensitised. Saha said many companies had conducted HIV/AIDS workshops at factory premises with ESIC's help.

Sipra Chakraborty, public health system in-charge at the Gun and Shell Factory, pointed out, "Such a task is immense - the company 4000 workers. We explain the benefits of protection to our workers."

The companies sends workers for a test if the company doctors see HIV/AIDS related syndrome but most workers try to conceal their symptoms.

Company representatives at the HIV/AIDS workshop admitted that companies conbined the drive against the disease with the government's Revised National Tuberculosis (TB) eradication programme.

In the state there are 13,000 registered factories and 0.9 million workers.

A model developed by the ILO to study the impact of HIV/AIDS on the economic growth rate done in 50 countries inlcuding India between 1992-2002 revealed that the impact HIV/AIDS lowered the rate of growth of GDP for all 50 countries (as a group) by 0.2 per cent annually and for GDP per capita by 0.1 per cent per annum.

The trend will predictably worsen with increase in figures of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA).

The same study also projected that cumulatively in three phases 8,24,750 workers would be partially (stage 3 of the disease) or fully (stage 4) incapacitated in 2005 in the country due to the HIV/AIDS affliction.

Immediate efforts are required to protect 400 million factory workers in India who are at active risk from the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) study.

The maximum number of infections about 89 per cent occur in the economically most productive age between 15 - 49 years in the country.

The main challenge however comes from the unorganisednformal sector which constitutes 90 per cent of the high risk labour force, the survey outlined.