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Businesses warned on impact of HIV/AIDS

    JOHANNESBURG

    South African companies are failing to take a serious view of the impact of HIV/AIDS on business, a new survey by the financial services group, Sanlam, has found.

    This was despite recent UNAIDS estimates that the 5.1 million people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa represented the highest number of infected people in a single country in the world.

    Sanlam warned that companies were hiding their heads in the sand when it came to recognising the cost of the pandemic to business.

    The survey found that 50 percent of companies had no official HIV/AIDS policy, 68 percent did not offer voluntary testing or counselling and 73 percent had implemented no health care provision for AIDS.

    Sanlam employee benefits CEO, Themba Gamedze, was quoted by the local Business Day newspaper as saying: "This is no longer only a moral issue, but a business decision."

    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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