John Keells educates more than 100,000 persons via HIV & AIDS Awareness Campaign
View(s):The John Keells HIV & AIDS Awareness Campaign – a long-term CSR initiative of the John Keells Group – recently passed the milestone of sensitising 100,000 persons on HIV and AIDS since project inception, the highest recorded impact created by a private entity in Sri Lanka.
The initiative is aimed at prevention through education and designed to cover awareness among group staff, various communities around the group’s business locations and the general public, the group said in a media release.
Launched in June 2005, it was the first such campaign to be undertaken by a local corporate in Sri Lanka and has sustained its HIV and AIDS Awareness Campaign for more than a decade. The campaign has been partnered by government and non-governmental bodies including National STD/AIDS Control Programme of the Ministry of Health (NSACP), International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) and Positive Women’s Network.
Speaking on the value of the John Keells HIV and AIDS awareness campaign, Dr. Sisira Liyanage, Director, National STD/AIDS Control Programme, said,”National STD/AIDS Control Programme truly appreciates John Keells’ effort to support HIV prevention over the years by sensitising not only employees of the John Keells Group but also staff of other corporates, hotels and factories, members of the Sri Lanka police and security forces, prisons and educational institutions and rehabilitated ex combatants.
We hope you will continue this effort to prevent HIV and maintain the good health of the workforce.” As at end June 2016, 101,061 persons were sensitised under the awareness campaign including businesses, hotels, security forces and police, prisons and educational institutions. The HIV and AID Awareness campaign covers topics including the nature of HIV and AIDS, how HIV can and cannot be transmitted, how it can be prevented or managed, discrimination faced by HIV positive persons, and how and where voluntary counselling and testing can be done.