Factory sets up fund for HIV-infected employees

A palm oil factory in the Central African Republic (CAR) has vowed to set up a special fund, to which all employees will contribute 1 percent of their salaries, to buy drugs for HIV/AIDS-infected employees. The announcement by the Bossongo palm oil factory followed a weeklong awareness campaign conducted by an umbrella organisation grouping seven HIV/AIDS associations. "The door-to-door campaign educated the personnel of Bossongo palm oil factory about HIV prevention and treatment using anti-retroviral drugs," said Luc N'vendo, secretary-general of the Reseau Centrafricain des Personnes Vivant avec le VIH Sida. Bossongo is located 50 km south of Bangui, the capital. Most of the factory's 1,500 employees attended a series of rallies organised by the organisation during the 12-18 May awareness campaign. N'vendo told PlusNews that his organisation targeted Bossongo because of its high rate of HIV infection, especially among pregnant women. He said that according to an HIV mapping conducted in December 2002 by Institut Pasteur, Bossongo, with an estimated population of 6,000, was the most HIV-affected place in the southern province of Lobaye. Eleven percent of pregnant women in Bossongo were HIV-positive. N'vendo said that with the establishment of the HIV/AIDS fund, the factory's employees would have better access to drugs that now cost between 25,000 and 30,000 francs CFA (US $41,6 and $50) per month. The Reseau Centrafricain des Personnes Vivant avec le VIH Sida, established in 1994, is present in nine of the country's 16 provinces. It has at least 4,000 members; among them HIV-infected people, those with relatives infected with or who may have died from AIDS and children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Among the organisation's donors are the World Bank, Amid'Afrique - a Japanese anti-HIV/AIDS NGO, UNAIDS, the UN Development Programme and the Comite National de Lutte Contre le Sida (CNLS), a national anti-HIV body. The HIV mapping by Institut Pasteur and CNLS indicated that the CAR was the most HIV-affected nation in the subregion, with 14.8 percent of its population being HIV-positive.