Poverty, conflict put people at risk of HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS has had a profoundly negative social and economic impact on countries in every part of the world including the United States, said US ambassador Robert Blake.

Addressing the Sri Lanka Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS last week, he said in Sri Lanka issues such as the ongoing conflict, poverty and high levels of unemployment among women put not only the health of its victims at risk but also the social and economic fabric of society.

He said if the government, private sector and development organizations work collaboratively in order to improve health service delivery and increase co-ordination of HIV prevention efforts within the community it will help keep the scourge of the disease from the shores of Sri Lanka, adding; “The private sector brings unparalleled skills, technical know-how, understanding of communications products, marketing and selling of products and services and valuable knowledge to reach and change opinion and behaviour of large numbers of people, employees, families.”

Sri Lanka has 930 people recorded as being HIV positive but the estimated number is around 3500, according to Director of the National STD/Aids Programme, Dr Nimal Edirisinghe. Statistics show that out of that 42% of the victims are women out of whom 80% have been infected by their spouses. According to Dr Edirisinghe, these could have been prevented if timely education and awareness were provided.

Following the eighth ICAAP (AIDS conference) held this year in Sri Lanka, Standard Chartered Bank hosted a meeting for business leaders in Sri Lanka to discuss their response to this epidemic. This saw the birth of the Business Coalition and now the membership of the Coalition has increased to 34 companies and continues to grow. The ILO Workplace programme, the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC), National Association for Trade Union Research and Education (NATURE) and Rotary Sri Lanka are also part of this programme. (LP)