Friday was World Aids Day. The impact HIV/Aids has on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) cannot be denied. HIV remains an important issue with devastating effects on labour and productivity. According to the International Labour Organisation (IL0), an estimated 36.7 million people were living with HIV (PHIV) at the end of 2015 globally.
Kenya has an average HIV prevalence rate of six per cent and has about 1.6 million people living with the infection. Those infected still face stigma, with a huge number of them denied access to employment and social protection. ILO estimates that 90 per cent of PHIV are in their most economically productive years, working in formal and informal economies, including SMEs.
The orld of Work, 2010 (No 200) calls upon employers, trade and labour unions, employees and volunteers to be actively engaged in eliminating stigma and discrimination, protect, promote and respect human rights and facilitate access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
Why SMEs should be concerned about HIV
According to ILO, HIV/AIDS results in reduction of skills and labour supply for SMEs, decreased productivity and increased business costs, greater absenteeism, loss of workers, loss of morale among employees and poor labour relations. However, the way your small business handles its workers can greatly minimise the negatives brought about by the disease.
What SMEs can do
SMEs need to look into policies that inform treatment of workers living with the disease. Under the HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act, under section 13, no person shall compel another to undergo a HIV test except where a person is charged with a sexual offence.
Section 22 prohibits disclosure of HIV test results of another person without his/her written consent and the Bill also makes it an offence for any person to be discriminated against on the grounds of actual, perceived or suspected HIV status, in relation to employment, access to education, credit, insurance, healthcare, travel, habitation and seeking public office. Occupational Safety and Health Act 2007 provides for safety, health, and welfare of employees.
Small business owners who give medical policies to their employees, knowingly and unknowingly improve those workers living with HIV. This means productivity is not compromised and absenteeism is minimised.
The Act also requires of the employer, as far as it is reasonably practicable, to create a safe working environment for the employees. The implication of the Act regarding HIV is that the employer needs to ensure that the risk of possible infection in the workplace is minimised.
Requiring a person to take a HIV test before employment or in the course of employment amounts to discrimination, an act frowned upon by the law and by all policies governing human decency. HIV infection is not a cause for termination of employment. Persons with HIV related illnesses should be allowed to work for as long as they are medically fit in available appropriate work.
Discrimination will not only attract penalties from the law but from your business stakeholders as well. Be prudent, respect the anonymity of your workers’ status as well as put in measures that promote their well-being, just in case one or more of them is infected. –Rose Muthoni
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