THE RAPID spread of HIV/AIDS has taken it way beyond being just a social issue, according to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
It must now be seen to be challenging the economies and infrastructures of developing nations, and can soon be expected to adversely affect the bottom lines of some major multinationals.
Dr Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, said: AIDS is no longer simply a public health issue. It cuts across agencies, disciplines, and national boundaries.
It threatens to roll back decades of hard-won development. Indeed, it has become a fully-fledged development crisis.
Businesses in Africa - or those who trade with Africa - must now review their strategies to take account of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, according to UNAIDS.
The rapid loss of manpower - and skilled manpower even more so - will reduce the labour pool, while pushing up labour costs. An answer, said UNAIDS, might lie in corporate investment, not only in revised recruitment and training strategies, but also in initiatives which support the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
No article may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor
To respond to this article send your email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za
