AFRICA: Big business takes up HIV/AIDS challenge

NEW YORK, 26 June (IRIN) - Whether as a result of pragmatism or social conscience, big business has finally woken up to the threat posed by HIV/AIDS and is bringing its "unique strengths" to bear in tackling the epidemic, business leaders said on Tuesday.

Following a meeting with UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, some of the world's biggest companies announced their commitment to the fight against HIV/AIDS and called on other business leaders to join the cause. Already signed up to the Global Business Council (GBC)

· the international group of companies spearheading the business response to HIV/AIDS - are household names such as Coca-Cola, Time Warner, Daimler Chrysler, Levi Strauss, Unilever and Standard Chartered Bank.

"Business has the opportunity to reach every single person on this earth," Bill Roedy, MTV Networks president and GBC chair said at a press conference during the UN General Assembly's Special Session on HIV/AIDS. He said that communication expertise, infrastructure, and organisational strengths gave business an unprecedented advantage in promoting anti-AIDS campaigns among both workers and consumers.

Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the United Nations and GBC president, acknowledged that the business response to the epidemic so far had been inadequate. He said his goal was to scale up business involvement, and recruit "every major company working in Africa and other affected areas" to the cause.

He added that the International Labour Organisation's new code of practice for the workplace, which sets guidelines for tackling HIV/AIDS as an essential part of the global campaign, was the first step towards a more enlightened business response. Holbrooke also noted that in Southern Africa, mining companies - among the hardest hit by AIDS-related absenteeism, staff turnover and rising insurance costs - have led the way in introducing health programmes for their staff.

As a further example of what can be done, last week Coca-Cola entered into a three-year partnership with UNAIDS to support AIDS education, prevention and treatment in Africa. "Coca-Cola Africa's special strength is its ability to bring its unrivalled marketing and logistics expertise to respond to the epidemic - from the community to the highest political level," UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot said in announcing the initiative.

In South Africa for example, a country with the world's largest number of people living with HIV/AIDS, "Coca-Cola will be part of a business council on the ground working with NGOs and government," the company's public affairs vice president Carl Ware told IRIN. "It's going to take partnerships, NGOs and governments can't do it alone. It's a reach issue - how many people we can reach with the right core messages in this war against HIV/AIDS."