LBCH tells business leaders:

Take serious note of HIV/AIDS issue

LBCH Chairman Lanka Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS (LBCH) had its Annual General Meeting at Cinnamon Lake Side Hotel, Colombo recently.

CEO Chevron Lubricants Kishu Gomes was elected Chairman of Lanka Business Coalition on HIV and AIDS for 2011/2012 succeeding Lalith Ramanayake of John Keels. Gomes served on the board of directors since 2009 and was a steering committee member since its inception.

Gomes gave a pledge that he will dedicate himself to deliver the expectations of all stakeholders.

He stressed the need for Sri Lankan business leaders to recognise the magnitude of the issue with two HIV cases reported every week.

While Sri Lanka is considered a low prevalence country, given that the country's economic growth is centered around tourism, foreign employment, trade, sport, marketing, exports related travelling our workforce is vulnerable.

He said that the biggest asset we have is the people with over eight million in the workforce and hence, we as business leaders should recognise the issue and look for a solution through early mitigation.

Gomes said that focussing on the issue with adequate attention to people is the way forward and appealed to business leaders to join LBCH to change the attitude towards this alarming issue to prevent Sri Lanka from having to experience what Africa is going through today.

Corporate Affairs Manager, Standard Chartered Bank, Dayo Aderugbo the guest speaker flown in from Nigeria shared the experience from the rest of the world South Africa in particular and stressed the need to respond to the challenge early.

She shared the best practices with the audience.

LBCH will soon embark on a journey under a new team to help the private sector employers in Sri Lanka with employee awareness, workplace policy implementation support and global best practice sharing.

Global surveys reveal that HIV/AIDS has reached pandemic proportions due to its unchecked growth caused primarily by a lack of awareness. No country has escaped the spread of this deadly disease, and if this trend continues, it is bound to have serious consequences on the world's future employable population.

Although Sri Lanka is considered a low prevalence country, research indicates that widespread poverty could be a trigger for the rapid spread of HIV/AIDS. Where these two factors exist HIV/AIDS can become a developmental setback and undo economic progress.

Until recently, curbing of the spread of HIV/AIDS had been vested with the government, activist groups and the public health community. It has now become evident that these entities need support to sustain and progress with this daunting task.

In response, the business community has taken the initiative and has become a driving force in creating awareness; the seriousness of HIV/AIDS and preventive measures.

Being a part of this response is not only a show of good corporate governance, but is also one of corporate self-interest, by way of preserving a healthy workforce.