CHGA Interactive: Ghana

1
HIV/AIDS and the African BusinessIssues and
Challenges

• Pamela C. Bowen
• Founder, Chair and CEO - A5 Coalition

2
Challenges to the PS Response
Attitudes
Knowledge
Africas Challenges
Inherent Challenges
3
The A5 and WAPSAN Experience

• Since 2002 A5 has helped companies develop
  workplace programmes including Nestle, Guinness,
  Stanbic Bank, Accra Brewery, Phyto-Riker
  Pharmaceutical and Westel
• A5 met with dozens of business leaders to
  encourage the formation of HIV/AIDS policies and
  workplace programmes

4
The A5 and WAPSAN Experience

• A5 partnered with the GBC to leverage
  international best practices in Ghana
• Collaborated with GEA and private sector to host
  executive training
• Efforts to scale-up response was met with much
  resistance and uptake was low

5
Attitudes is a key stumbling block

• Perceptions we encountered
• HIV/AIDS is a public health issue
• The disease is an issue for the country, perhaps
  the sector, but not viewed as a problem at the
  enterprise level (refer to GEA survey)
• Belief that other companies are NOT undertaking
  programmes
• General apathy about the welfare of workers
  deemed disposable and/or easily replaceable
• Some employers do not appear to value their
  workers
• Lack of leadership/management commitment
• Profit motive, not necessarily socially conscious

6
Ignorance fuels inaction

• Lack of knowledge perpetuates attitudes
• Lack of information about the disease and its
  impact at the enterprise, sector and
  macro-economic levels
• Leaderships limited definition of a workplace
  programme leads many to believe they have
  implemented interventions
• Little or no private sector health surveillance
  to know the impact at the enterprise level
• Little knowledge sharing among companies of
  losses or related costs

Knowledge
7
There are practical limits for the PS

• PS has expressed key challenges to action
• Outside core competency
• Lack of an enabling environment
• Lack of resources/inability to access support
• Absence of sound Policy and tools for ME
• SMEs and Informal sector challenges
• Private and public sector partnership limitations
• Difference in core ideology
• Difference in approach to challenges

Inherent Challenges
8
African businesses have unique challenges

• Paradigm of African business leaders is
  influenced by harsh realities
• Business survival is not guaranteed. Many
  struggle to be profitable and competitive
• Most enterprises are small, with fewer than 5
  employees
• Short-term view driven by environment
• Political instability
• Economic instability

Africas Challenges
9
Responding to the challenge

• In 2003 A5 determined more advocacy was necessary
  to scale up the response of the private sector.
  Focus shifted beyond Ghana to West Africa
  (ECOWAS) region
• With support from ILO, UNAIDS and the private
  sector a consultative meeting was held which
  brought together 93 delegates from 12 countries
  to explore the possibility of forming the WAPSAN
  West Africa Private Sector AIDS Network.

10
Input from diverse stakeholders

• Private sector, public sector, employer orgs,
  employee representative groups, associations of
  PLWHA and international agencies
• Participants included Coca Cola, Ashanti
  Goldfields, Nestle, Unilever, Standard Chartered
  Bank, ILO, UNAIDS, FHI, GTZ, Care International,
  NACPs and others.

11
Input from diverse stakeholders

• Supported the formation of the WAPSAN
• Distinct working groups developed
  multi-dimensional multi-year strategy
• Encouraged advocacy
• Recommended more public-private partnerships
• Believed a unified voice was necessary to lobby
  for an enabling environment in the sub-region
• Believed more efforts should be put into resource
  mobilization, capacity building, knowledge
  sharing and harmonizing efforts

12
Recommendations - Advocacy

• The A5 and WAPSAN experience reveals business
  leaders must be role models to encourage their
  peers to take up programmes and remove the idea
  that HIV is only a public health issue.
• There is still more ground to be covered in the
  area of advocacy
• Best practices around effective advocacy efforts
  should be shared

13
Recommendations Public/Private Partnerships

• More public-private partnerships are needed to
  optimize scarce resources
• Practical challenges of efforts to forge
  public-private partnerships reveals the need to
  structure initiatives that are more practical and
  less burdensome for the private sector
• A paradigm shift is needed to arrive at common
  ground

14
Recommendations Enabling Environment

• NACPs should clearly define the role of the
  private sector in NSF (national strategic
  framework). Education campaigns should also
  communicate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the private
  sector to remove public health stigma associated
  with HIV/AIDS and encourage shareholder buy-in
• Advocacy should encourage national policies,
  which will serve as a guide for the PS

15
Recommendations Resource Mobilization/Capacity
Building

• Sustainability will require pooling and
  optimizing the use of scarce resources
• Resources of various stakeholder groups should be
  combined to enhance collective benefit and build
  capacity
• As programs evolve capacity must be built to meet
  demand, particularly with regard to care and
  support programmes for PLWHA

16
Other Recommendations Demystify the disease

• It is widely accepted that HIV/AIDS will have
  grave consequences for Africa
• However, practically we must remove the fear and
  stigma which discourage voluntary testing and
  corporate action
• We must demystify HIV/AIDS at the enterprise
  level they way we have with malaria, diabetes and
  hypertension

17
Other Recommendations Leverage Lessons Learned

• We have a unique opportunity
• Many programmes have been implemented
• Some successes have been documented
• Critical assessments must be undertaken to gauge
  the efficacy of existing approaches as we move
  forward into more comprehensive and sophisticated
  initiatives
• Information needs to be made available to the PS
  to enable swift, and decisive action

18
Closing Remarks

• The paradigm of the private sector
  fundamentally differs from that of the public
  sector. The private sector must necessarily have
  a keen focus on profitability, competitiveness
  and survival we must speak the language of the
  private sector in order to co-author new and
  innovative next generation interventions
• Pamela C. Bowen
• A5 Coalition

19
Thank You

• For more information contact
• Pamela Bowen Chair and CEO, A5 Coalition
• pbowen_at_a5coalition.org
• 233 21 701 1867
• 233 27 741 5400
• Marius Ziedou A5 Policy Officer, WASPAN
  Coordinator
• mziedou_at_a5coalition.org
• 233 27 745 7880