AIDS education at work

By Dilshani Samaraweera

With over 100,000 people contracting sexually transmitted diseases every year, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Employers Federation of Ceylon (EFC) have decided to educate working adults about HIV/AIDS.

Participants at the HIV / AIDS Workplace Education Programme

Despite Sri Lanka’s conservative cultural attitudes that inhibit discussion of the subject, the number of people contracting sexually transmitted diseases is increasing. Sri Lanka is also noted for high risk behaviour when it comes to AIDS.

Now the ILO and EFC are trying to raise AIDS awareness among adults without upsetting cultural sensibilities, through a US funded factory improvement programme.

“In a cultural context the home environment is not suitable to discuss such things and neither is school. So the workplace is the ideal place to discuss these things,” said Gotabaya Dasanayaka, Director General of the EFC.

The EFC says already 10 factories, mostly in the garment sector, have signed up to send representatives to the AIDS classes.

“As of end of June this year 785 people were diagnosed with the HIV infection by the National STD AIDS control programme. But this is only the number reported through the government system. There are others getting treatment from private hospitals and from outside the country. These people are not included in the official number,” says Dr Dayanath Ranatunge, Programme Officer, HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Programme.

In total, around 5,000 people in Sri Lanka are estimated to be HIV positive. But despite this relatively low number of HIV victims, health experts are concerned by the high risk behaviour of Sri Lankans that could eventually result in a full blown outbreak.

“The commercial sex industry is growing fast but condom usage is low in Sri Lanka. Most Sri Lankan men still think of the condom as a means of family planning and not as prevention against sexually transmitted illnesses. It is also difficult to educate sex workers about using condoms because prostitution is not legalised and this makes it difficult to target sex workers to educate them,” said Dr Ranatunge.

More worrying than the moral implications of the thriving sex industry, are the indications that Sri Lankans are practicing unsafe sex that increases the risk of HIV infections.

“That a great many people are practicing unsafe sex is obvious from the fact that over 100,000 people are estimated to be contracting sexually transmitted diseases every year. Again even this official number is actually the people that come to the government system. Many more go to the private health sector and these people are not included in the official numbers,” said Dr Ranatunge.

That Sri Lanka is next door to the world’s second largest HIV infected population is another concern. India has the second highest number of HIV positive persons in the world, behind Africa. With increasing trade and travel ties between Sri Lanka and India, the experts point out that it is necessary to educate people about safety and health practices.

“We have to educate people to be faithful to their partners or wear a condom,” said Dr Ranatunge.

However, the health experts say educating people about the technicalities behind AIDS alone is not enough. Sri Lanka needs an attitudinal change. At the moment one reason for under-reporting of HIV/AIDS is the social stigma.

“A person who is HIV positive has about 10 – 12 years before it develops into AIDS. So stigmatising and depriving them of their jobs will do more damage than the AIDS virus itself, because mental pressure and the lack of money for medication and nutritious food will precipitate the development of AIDS. So we need to see a behavioural change in how people treat someone who has AIDS or is HIV positive,” said Dr Ranatunge.