“Nine out of ten people living with HIV and AIDS are of working age – most of those at risk are also working women and men” Juan Somavia, Director General of the ILO, Statement for World AIDS Day 2005

Nine out of ten persons living with HIV belong to the working age group 15 – 49 years, usually the most productive group in any society. Out of the 33 million persons living with HIV in 2007, about 30 million were adults.

At the level of the infected or affected worker, HIV/AIDS often has an impact on the basic human rights of that worker including the right to work, the right to non-discrimination, the right to health, the right to privacy, the right to education and the right to social security. At the level of the family, the inability to work or dismissal from work of the HIV positive person results in a loss of personal or family income, exacerbating poverty. Often, the burden on women is increased when they are required to combine care of the ill with productive work to replace loss of income. The need for replacement income may also result in truncated schooling for children and their premature entry into the labour force, with implications for their own development, for the vicious cycle of poverty and for the quality of the human capital of a country.

HIV/AIDS results in increased costs to the employer and decreased productivity through the loss of skilled and experienced workers and consequential recruitment and training of new employees, through increased demand on the company’s medical system and through absenteeism of both ill workers and affected relatives and friends.

Reduced productivity at the level of the firm has a negative impact on a country’s competitiveness and economic growth.  Ill workers and impoverished families result in a contracting consumer base and falling demand for goods and services and can further undermine investment and enterprise development. The demands made on the social protection systems and national health services as a result of treatment and care of HIV positive persons often limit the investment capacity and choices of national budgets, inhibiting development agendas.

HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean

UNAIDS 2007 estimates for the Caribbean indicate that 230,000 persons were living with HIV.  Haiti and the Dominican Republic accounted for 75% of this total with 115,000 and 62,000, respectively, according to each country’s 2008 report to the United Nations General Assembly special session (UNGASS) on HIV and AIDS.

The 2008 UNGASS reports from many of the Caribbean countries and territories covered by the ILO Subregional Office for the Caribbean also revealed significant numbers of HIV positive persons. Among these were: Antigua and Barbuda (663), Bahamas (10,841), Barbados (3,600), Belize (4,131), British Virgin Islands (30), Dominica (327), Grenada (348), Guyana (5,429), Jamaica (25,000), St. Kitts and Nevis (270), St. Lucia (648), Suriname (4,358), St. Vincent and the Grenadines (1,012), and Trinidad and Tobago (18,378).  These figures represented country prevalence that ranged from 0.23% in the British Virgin Islands to 3% in the Bahamas. In the Caribbean, similar to the global trend, the majority of persons living with HIV are persons of working age, that is, between the ages 15-49.

ILO/AIDS: Contributing to the Global Response

ILO formally established its Global Programme on HIV/AIDS, known as ILO/AIDS, in November 2000. Soon after, in June 2001, the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, developed by a tripartite team of experts from ILO member States, was adopted by the ILO Governing Body. The Code was launched at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, New York, June 2001 and it is accepted as the authoritative guide for responding to HIV in the world of work. In October 2001, ILO became a co-sponsor of UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS which was established in 1996 to expand and coordinate the UN system response to HIV/AIDS. Other partners and cosponsors of UNAIDS are UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank.

The ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work identifies ten key principles that should be core to any comprehensive workplace strategy to protect the rights at work of infected and affected workers. 

 
ILO: Responding in the Caribbean

Since 2003, the ILO has been implementing HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programmes funded by the United States Department of Labor, in Belize, Barbados, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (completed), as well as in Guyana (ongoing). The programmes aim to contribute to the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the workplace, the enhancement of workplace protection and reduction of its adverse consequences on social, labour and economic development. A similar programme was launched for Suriname in 2007, funded by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). The countries of the Eastern Caribbean are also benefiting from fast-track initiatives patterned after the HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programmes.

In the region, the ILO works closely with the Caribbean Community through the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), as well as with the Caribbean Congress of Labour, Caribbean Employers' Confederation, Pan Caribbean Business Coalition, Caribbean Association of Industry and Commerce, UNAIDS, Joint United Nations Team on HIV/AIDS, and UNESCO.