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SOUTH AFRICA: Stigma hampers Anglo AIDS drug uptake

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 22 April (PLUSNEWS) - South African mining giant AngloGold Ashanti has blamed stigma and fear of retrenchment for the slow uptake by employees of its free anti-AIDS programme.

The head of Anglo's HIV/AIDS programme, Dr James Steele said only a quarter of the HIV-positive workers were making use of the available treatment, despite an estimated 30 percent of their 36,000 local staff having been diagnosed as HIV positive.

"Many workers don't understand the confidential nature of voluntary counselling and testing, and fear discrimination," the local Business Day newspaper quoted Steele as saying.

The company's experience echoes that of Anglo-American, which noted earlier this year that only 25 percent of their HIV-positive workers needing treatment had made use of the AIDS programme.

[ENDS]

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