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Business community calls for greater participation in eradicating HIV/AIDS

    JOHANNESBURG

    The Botswana Business Coalition on AIDS (BBCA) has urged the business community to play a more active role in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

    According to a local newspaper, The Reporter, chairman Kabelo Ebineng told a meeting in the second city of Francistown that there were many opportunities for the private sector to play a key role.

    A BBCA survey found that companies generally lacked HIV/AIDS policies, and awareness of government initiatives was weak.

    Dr Geoffrey Tirelo of the national antiretroviral therapy programme, MASA, said it was "high time the business community realised that ... [HIV/AIDS] will negatively affect business", and stressed the need for making HIV/AIDS "a boardroom issue".

    MASA had been unable to reach its goal of enrolling 55,000 patients by March 2005, partly as a result of lack of support from the business community.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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