Namibian businesses 'in denial' about HIV/Aids
24/06/2008
A number of Namibian businesses are failing to face up to the challenge posed by HIV/Aids, according to one new study.
The report - titled the Business Decision Makers' Survey on HIV and Aids: The Boardroom Speaks - found that several local firms believe their staff are not at risk of infection because they are "highly educated".
"Misperception still exists about the disease not being a threat to the companies, for various reasons," it argued. "In several instances this was coupled with perception that it is therefore the government's responsibility to address HIV and Aids."
PricewaterhouseCoopers conducted the survey, canvassing the opinions of high-ranking business executives in Namibia's multinationals as well as in smaller local firms.
It concluded that the HIV/Aids epidemic has yet to receive the national attention it deserves among the business community, suggesting many corporations remained in denial about the scourge.
The report noted that while 61 per cent of the 200 private companies that participated view the lack of a skilled workforce as the biggest threat to their growth and expansion, few mentioned the economic toll wrought by medical crises such as HIV/Aids.
A recent study by the Federation of Kenya Employers found that HIV costs the average business in that country £28,000 per year - primarily due to lost productivity through sick leave.
Despite such well-publicised warnings, fewer than one in three Namibian firms has carried out workplace HIV tests among its employees.
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