Some Indian companies are opening new fronts to fight HIV/AIDS. They are not only engaging with their supply chains to spread awareness about the infection and promote safe sexual behaviour, but also offering treatment to the infected.
For example, in August this year, Ballarpur Industries partnered with National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) and Confe- deration of Indian Industry (CII) to start an Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) centre in Ballarpur, Chandrapur (Maharashtra) to provide treatment to the infected requiring treatment.
Explains Yashashree Gurjar, chief general manager, corporate social responsibility, “We recognise that the HIV/ AIDS epidemic is a global crisis and constitutes one of the most formidable challenges to development and social progress and we need to address the challenge at a corporate level.” This policy reiterates our company’s commitment in creating a healthy workplace through integrating HIV/ AIDS prevention efforts in its existing welfare policies, she adds.
Besides, the company is taking the HIV prevention programme right up to the doorstep of its supply chain of truckers, transporters, vendors and suppliers. The companys two-year-old HIV/ AIDS prevention programme has involved 300 employees as volunteers to spread awareness amongst their peers and in the community, reaching out to more than 25,000 people in all. Apart from conducting regular awareness programmes, health clinics have been also started for about 2,000 truck drivers to treat STIs free of cost.
Similarly, Ambuja Cement not only covers the company staff with its HIV/AIDS policy, but also spreads awareness to prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading amongst its supply chain, comprising mainly truckers and migrant workers. Dedicated company staff engages with truckers and migrant workers to educate them on safe sexual behaviour. The company has also created a chain of condom outlets along its major routes of interest and even installed condom vending machines at various locations.
The reasons for reaching out to supply chains are driven by the business case that prompts companies to engage with their staff in the first place. “Tackling HIV/AIDS helps reduce the loss of manpower, retraining costs, absenteeism and treatment expenses. It holds true for both the company staff and the supply chain,” explains S Mohd Afsar, ILOs HIV/ AIDS specialist for South Asia.
Though essentially a health issue, HIV/AIDS is increasingly being factored in as an economic issue. Analysing the likely impact of HIV/AIDS between 2002-03 and 2015-16, the Macroeconomic and Sectoral Impacts of HIV and AIDS in India says: Economic growth could decline by 0.86 percentage points over the period (2002-2003 to 2015-2016) and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.55 percentage points. GDP at 2002-03 prices would decline in 2015-16 by Rs 11,097.93 billion. The GDP per capita (at 2002-2003 prices) would decline in 2015-16 by Rs 7,610.61.
The impact of the epidemic on the economy comes through slower growth in population and supply of labour due to AIDS-related deaths; lower labour productivity of HIV affected workers; increased share of health expenditure in household budgets; increased share of government health spending, and increased poverty since the real wages for unskilled labour with fall the most, adds the study.
Reaching out to supply chains has become important particularly for industries like transport and automobiles because they have large and diverse supply chains, which make a substantial contribution to their bottomlines.
For example, Transport Corporation of India (TCI), a cargo transport major, has entered into partnership with petroleum and tyre companies like Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, JK Tyres and Castrol to run its HIV/AIDS prevention programme for 2 million long distance truckers and helpers.
Called Project Kavach, the programme is undertaken at 17 locations, mostly trans-shipment points. Explains D P Agarwal, vice-chairman and managing director, “Project Kavach focusses on behavioural change communication, counselling at halt points, condom promotion and STI treatment.” The project aims to promote safe sexual behaviour and condom usage and making clinical intervention to reduce STIs at its 70 satellite clinics. Besides, 1 lakh condoms are sold every month to truckers through 800 non-traditional outlets.
Last but not the least, such interventions help principals bond better with their supply chains. V K Jain, director of Ambuja Cement Foundation is not too much worried about the financial or economic viability of their programmes because the results are so intangible that doing the cost benefit analysis may not be possible at this stage. “So, we don’t link this with our business gains. This is our social responsibility that we have taken beyond compliance. Our relationship with our vendors and their employees has grown stronger with this intervention,” he adds.
And in any case expenditure can be underwritten by multilateral institutions like the International Finance Corporation (IFC), donors like Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation or national agencies like NACO.
For example, the Ballarpur project has partial funding from International Finance Corporation and technical support from International Labor Organization, National AIDS Control Organization and State AIDS Control Societies and CII. Similarly the TCI project is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Ambuja’s programme is supported by IFC and NACO.
Elaborates Afsar, “Supporting institutions like to take the supply chains route because its offers them opportunities to reach informal and vulnerable groups of population like truckers and migrant labour. A win-win situation indeed!” Only if the virus would lose!
Source: The Financial Express
Published on 29 November 2007