Two HIV cases per week, Lankan biz leaders urged to acknowledge magnitude of problem

With two new HIV cases being reported per week, Sri Lankan business leaders were urged recently to recognize the magnitude of the problem and take corrective action.

The call was made by Kishu Gomes, CEO Chevron Lubricants, who was unanimously elected as the Chairman of the Lanka Business Coalition on HIV & AIDS (LBCH) for the year 2011/2012 at the AGM in Colombo last week. He succeeds Lalith Ramanayake from John Keells Holdings.

Members of the coalition include John Keells, Standard Chartered Bank, Hayleys, Aitken Spence, HNB, Dialog, Chevron Lubricants, Brandix, etc. Mr Gomes pledged that he will dedicate himself fully to deliver the expectations of all the stakeholders of LBCH. He said while Sri-Lanka is considered a low prevalence country, given that the country’s economic growth is centered around tourism, foreign employment, trade, sport marketing, exports related travelling etc, the workforce has become highly vulnerable.

“The biggest asset we have is the people asset with over eight million people in the workforce and hence, we as business leaders should recognize the issue and look for a solution through early mitigation action,” he said.