Expanding access to HIV/AIDS Treatment, Care and Support through Occupational Health Services and consolidation of public-private partnerships

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Expanding access to HIV/AIDS Treatment,
Care and Support through Occupational Health
Services
and consolidation of public-private partnerships
by Dr. Benjamin O. Alli ILO/AIDS
Turin, July 2006
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Essential Facts

• 40 million adults live with HIV/AIDS
• 70 are workers in their productive prime
• They are essential to social safety nets and
  national development
• The world of work can play a key role in the
  provision of treatment, care and support through
  OH services

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Problem statement

• Health systems of many African countries are
  unable to cope with the rapid increase of AIDS
  patients
• Time for OHS of larger enterprises to get
  involved in care, treatment and support of
  workers
• Enterprises can also be effective in prevention
  and psycho-social support

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Relevance of ILO instruments

• The ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the
  world of work
• The Manual Implementing the ILO Code of
  Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work an
  education and training manual
• Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985
  (No. 161) and accompanying Recommendation

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Occupational health services Convention, 1985
(No. 161)

• Occupational health services are responsible
• for advising the employer, the workers and
• their representatives on
• The requirements for establishing and maintaining
  a safe and health working environment to
  facilitate optimal physical and mental health
• The adaptation of work to the capabilities of
  workers in the light of their state of physical
  and mental health.

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ILO Code of Practice

• 5.1 (e) In countries where employers assume a
  primary responsibility for providing direct
  health-care services to workers, governments
  should offer guidelines to assist employers in
  the care and clinical management of HIV/AIDS.
  These guidelines should take account of existing
  services.
• 9.3 (a) Some employers may be in a position to
  assist their workers with access to
  antiretroviral drugs. Where health services exist
  at the workplace these should offer, in
  cooperation with governments and all other
  stakeholders, the broadest range of health
  services possible to prevent and manage HIV/AIDS
  and assist workers living with HIV/AIDS

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Objectives

• To extend treatment, care and support to the
  workplace through occupational health services as
  part of the efforts to scale up or accelerate
  access to treatment.
• To promote Confidential Voluntary Counselling and
  Testing (CVCT) through know your status
  campaigns when individuals know their HIV
  status they can be helped to live more healthily
  and take appropriate measures to prevent
  infection.

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Objectives

• To establish/promote community outreach
  programmes, including the use of mobile clinics
  to extend treatment, care and support to workers
  families.
• To contribute to the management of the crisis of
  orphans through combined efforts to maintain the
  health of parents and the incomes of families and
  to prevent new HIV Infections.
• To provide social protection which includes
  access to social security, medical benefits,
  health insurance schemes, and other decentralized
  insurance and income support schemes.

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Treatment, Care and Support

• In the context of ILO, it should include
• Access to comprehensive treatment
• Information on living healthily
• Psycho-social support for PLWHA
• Access to community referral services
• Adapted working conditions
• Access to social protection services

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UNAIDS/WHO 3 by 5 Initiative

• Aims to provide 3 million PLWHA with ART by 2005
• Focuses on strengthening national health systems
• ILO contribution will be to assist in
  strengthening OHS to make them effective ART
  access platforms

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Focus of ILO action

• Technical cooperation project to
• Strengthen and organize OHS for effective
  contribution to national efforts
• Strengthen continuum of care though promotion of
  public-private partnerships
• Eliminate the causes of stigma and discrimination

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Project goals and objectives

• Extend treatment, care and support through OH
  services
• Promote CVTC through know your status campaigns
• Promote creation of community outreach programmes
• Create mechanisms to manage issues related to
  orphans
• Improve social protection systems
• Promote public-private partnerships

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Main project activities

• Collection of data on existing workplace based
  OHS and extent of services provided to workers
  (ongoing survey)
• Selection of participating OH services
• Creation of multidisciplinary occupational health
  care (OHC) teams, including mobile teams
• Training education of OHS personnel
• Provision of services through a comprehensive
  care package

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Achieving sustainable action

• Give high priority to prevention
• Focus on full integration of management tools and
  means
• Respond to HIV/AIDS in development context,
  including vocational training and adapted income
  generating work
• Explore creation of innovative social protection
  systems

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Expected results

• Enhanced capacity of OHS
• Improved/expanded Community health care delivery
  and outreach networks
• Enhanced and expanded prevention, CVCT and
  information programmes
• Better Social protection services
• Better working conditions and environment for
  infected workers
• Reduction in AIDS related mortality and morbidity

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International Cooperation

• Essential to achieve objectives and should
  include
• International organizations of Employers and
  Workers such as the IOE and the ICFTU, and their
  regional and national affiliates
• The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS
• Pharmaceutical companies
• Donor agencies

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THE END www.ilo.org/aids