 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Patricia Mengech, MPH, Commercial Market Strategies Project, 1001 G Street NW, Suite 400W, Washington, DC 20001, (202) 220-2167, pmengech@cmsproject.com
The private sector has a crucial role to play in slowing the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and sharing the responsibility of treating the afflicted. Private sector involvement reduces the burden on public health systems that often lack the resources and capacity to adequately address the epidemic. The private sector is often able to act faster and more effectively than many other players. HIV/AIDS adversely affects productivity and profits of individual companies while destroying potential markets and cheap sources of labor. HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs for employees have proven effective in mitigating the adverse effects of AIDS on businesses. These programs often cost less than the savings they produce. Not only is it financially sound to implement workplace programs, but many companies also believe they have a social responsibility to do so, also extending programs to the larger community. The proposed poster will exhibit CMS’ approach in Ghana to addressing HIV/AIDS through the private sector including: µ Innovating approaches to HIV/AIDS workplace programs; µ Evaluating costs versus benefits of workplace programs; µ Researching commercial sector willingness-to-pay for HIV/AIDS services; µ Cost-effective approaches to working with businesses; µ Creating commercial sector demand for HIV/AIDS programs; µ Building NGO capacity to provide services to the commercial sector; and µ Providing high quality ARV treatment through autonomous treatment centers. The poster will illustrate the potential role of the private sector in HIV/AIDS care and prevention, identifying mechanisms for developing and implementing workplace programs and describing program strengths, challenges and lessons learned.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: HIV/AIDS, Workforce
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.