Association Of Lesotho Employers And Business

Ambassador Robert Loftis

September 25, 2003

 Mr. G.T. Monaheng, President of the ALE

Mr. T. Makeka, Executive Director

Distinguished Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the role of the private sector in fighting HIV/AIDS.  As many of you know, it is an issue to which I have devoted a great deal of my time and energies since assuming my duties as United States Ambassador to Lesotho.

 Let us start with the premise that businesses are not social welfare organizations.  Your responsibilities are to provide a product or service to your clients and customers, to produce a profit for your owners and shareholders, and to create a decent and reasonable work environment for your employees.  Each of these is critical to your on-going success.

 Unfortunately, HIV/AIDS has a direct impact on your ability to fulfill each of these roles, and thus a direct impact on your bottom line.  The problem is that it may not be immediately apparent to you.  I understand that many employers are reluctant to get involved in HIV/AIDS.  Some of you may believe that it is a personal or private issue that does not concern the jobsite.  Others may fear the implied liabilities and costs to their businesses.  And still others may not want to violate societal taboos about discussing sexual matters.  And for many of you, you may simply be at a loss for ideas on what you and your company can do.  For most of us, I suspect it is a combination of all of these.

 As valid as all these concerns may be, the reality is that no one can ignore the impact of AIDS on Lesotho, and thus on Lesotho’s private sector.  A quick glance at the statistics should frighten all of us.  Over one third of the adult population is infected with HIV/AIDS.  There are more than 70,000 children who have lost one or both parents to AIDS.  On average, 70 Basotho die each day from AIDS-related causes. 

 With so many people infected and affected, it is simply unavoidable that AIDS will impact your company’s bottom line.  Most of you already have problems with absenteeism, ill employees, reduced productivity and higher costs.

So long as the epidemic remains entrenched, those problems will not go away.  And you will not solve them by replacing sick workers with healthy ones.  What you need is to keep your workforce healthy and productive.

 I’d like to amplify on that last point, especially in regard to the export-dependent garment industry.  As many of you know, your industry is vulnerable to consumer boycotts when consumers and human rights groups believe that workers’ rights are being violated.  We all know what happened to a famous line of designer clothing was forced out of business when it was revealed that the clothing was manufactured in Asian sweatshops using child labor.

 In Lesotho, we do not have sweatshops, the more abusive practices in the Far East do not exist, and I have seen no signs of child labor.  That does not mean, however, that you would not face a similar public relations disaster if consumers in America come to believe that you are callous or are discarding workers because they are infected with HIV/AIDS.  Even if the words “HIV/AIDS” are never uttered or written as part of the dismissal, the conclusions will be drawn that illness was behind the loss of jobs.  That is a situation that none of us wants.

 We know that we have a bad situation.  The question is: what do we do about it?  Clearly, we don’t throw up our hands and walk away.

 My main piece of advice is for the employers of this country to become active in encouraging, even demanding, that the government mobilize the entire country in the fight against AIDS.  By that, I do not mean that you go to the Prime Minister or Minister of Health and say “do something” while you stand there with your arms crossed.  You have to offer to be part of the solution.

 First: you need to make a realistic appraisal of what HIV/AIDS is doing to your company.  How many worker-days are you losing to illness?  What are you paying in funeral benefits?  What are your retraining costs?  What is happening to your productivity? 

 Second:  you need to look at what you are doing now about AIDS in the workplace.  Do you have a written policy?  Do you have condom distribution points?  Is there a health plan for your employees?  Do you allow or encourage AIDS education in your workplace?

 Third: After you know the magnitude of the problem and what you are doing now, ask yourself if what you are doing is adequate. 

 Without taking on the role of health care clinic or social welfare office, there are some things that you, as employers and businesses can do.  Let me give you a few examples. 

·        Institute an AIDS awareness program at your worksites.  This is not just a case of putting up a few posters.  Invite some of the NGO’s that are active in the field to come during the lunch break or after hours.  And make sure that you and your senior managers attend as well.  If you don’t take it seriously, your workers won’t either.

·        I know that many of you cannot afford extensive health benefit plans for your workers.  I encourage you to explore with other employers in your industry or within the association the possibility of banding together to create economies of scale.  If you have unions, approach them for support.  Make it a system whereby the company contributes and the employees contribute, so that the risks and benefits are spread out.  The various burial societies provide a model: let’s use that to promote life instead of simply waiting for death.

·        I know that some employers subsidize nutritional supplements for their employees regardless of their HIV/AIDS status, on the theory that a healthier workforce is a more productive workforce.  I encourage others to follow that practice.

·        It is an unfortunate and tragic reality that, eventually, people with AIDS become too sick to continue work.  At that point, it is critical that they have a reasonable severance package to tide them over.  Again, this can be part of a defined benefit plan to which the employee contributes as well, and can be negotiated with the unions and workers’ representatives.

·        I am sure that there are other suggestions out there, some that might be suitable to a single company or industry, others that might apply to all.  If you have not done so, I encourage you to form a committee among your association where you can share ideas and programs, and present the government with workable ideas. 

What I am trying to convey here is that the private sector cannot and should not try to take on the entire burden of fighting HIV/AIDS.  For example, few, if any, of you have the resources to provide anti-retrovirals to your employees, and I do not expect that.  But, you can contribute to the overall fight against HIV/AIDS by not trying to ignore the problem.

 The United States Embassy intends to remain very much engaged in the fight against HIV/AIDS.  As many of you may know, Lesotho has been approved for a five year, $30 million grant from the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  The United States is the largest donor to that fund.  In addition, we have been working with community groups to teach home based care, and we have supported other NGOs, such as CARE Lesotho and PSI, who have been teaching peer educators and doing social marketing of condoms.  We have a program with the Lesotho Defense Forces to help them create their own AIDS prevention program.   I hope to soon start a program of Voluntary Counseling and Testing with the Ministry of Health.  All of our Peace Corps Volunteers must incorporate the fight against HIV/AIDS into their programming: nine of them are assigned directly to the District AIDS Task Forces.  And last but not least, I intend to remain a vocal pain in the neck to advocate even more strenuous action by all Basotho.

 In the final analysis, ladies and gentlemen, the AIDS pandemic can only be stopped when each of us make the right decisions about our personal lives to protect our own health and that of our loved ones.  One of the real tragedies of AIDS is that it is so easily prevented: through abstinence, through faithfulness to one partner, or through the use of condoms every time you have sex.  It’s that simple.

 Thank you very much for your attention and the sign of your commitment by convening this meeting today. 

End

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