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Global Business Survey - Business and HIV/AIDS: Who me?

Of the 7,789 business leaders polled in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2003 Executive Opinion Survey:

• 47% of firms felt HIV/AIDS is having or will have some impact on their business, with firms more worried about HIV/AIDS than tuberculosis or malaria;
• Most business leaders put their estimate of HIV prevalence rates among their workforce lower than UNAIDS figures for adult prevalence. Firms that have conducted workforce prevalence surveys report lower infection rates than those that have not;
• 20% of firms believe HIV/AIDS is or will seriously affect their communities, while few believe the epidemic will strike the community, but not their company;
• 16% of all firms provide information about the risks of infection, while 5% claim to provide anti-retrovirals for all HIV-positive staff;
• Fewer than 6% have formally-approved written HIV policies;
• Only 28% of executives believe their response to the epidemic is insufficient, although 56% of those who expect a serious impact on the business from the epidemic are dissatisfied with their companies’ response.
  
  

1. Firms are not particularly active in combating HIV/AIDS, even when they expect the epidemic to cause serious problems for their business.
2. Businesses appear to be making decisions based on a fairly patchy assessment of the risks they face.
3. Firms seem to favour a broad social response to the epidemic, even if only a small number of businesses currently see themselves as an integral part of that response.

• Accurate, objective and unbiased information on HIV/AIDS must be generated and disseminated, covering areas such as workforce prevalence, the impact of the epidemic on businesses at different prevalence levels, and the cost effectiveness of business-sponsored prevention activity;
• The potential of business associations and coalitions to tackle HIV/AIDS should continue to be harnessed, as firms have a greater incentive to participate in and sponsor prevention activities if they can focus on the problems facing an industry sector or geographical area;
• Public/private partnerships should be considered where they capitalize on the relative strengths and incentives of governments, NGOs and businesses.

• Prefaces and Forewords - Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman, World Economic Forum, Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS, Mervyn Davies, Group Chief Executive, Standard Chartered Bank and Laura Tyson, Dean, London Business School.
• Executive Summary and Introduction
• Part 1 - Scaling the Problem - assesses the literature on the impact of HIV/AIDS on economies and businesses.
• Part 2 - Global Business Opinion - discusses the data from the Executive Opinion Survey, focusing on the questions covering HIV/AIDS.
• Part 3 - Conclusions - draws out the main conclusions from the data and offers recommendations for future action.
• Appendix and Tables - supporting appendix and data tables including country-level data tables by question

The report was developed in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health and UNAIDS. It was funded, in part, through a grant provided by UNAIDS. It was written by David E. Bloom, Lakshmi Reddy Bloom, David Steven and Mark Weston. It was edited by Kate Taylor and Peter DeYoung of the Global Health Initiative.