 The United Nations estimates that 33.4 million people worldwide are HIV positive. In the developing world, this figure may be higher due to the uncertainty in diagnosis at the time of death.The United Nations also estimates that around 65% or 22.4 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are HIV positive. Those infected are in the most productive age of their life (15 - 49 years) and consequently a large proportion of the productive population is wiped out by the pandemic. This has detrimental effects on economic growth and stability of the region. Employers in Kenya appreciate that HIV/AIDS has an increasing adverse impact on the operations of companies and employee’s household. With the epidemic come high costs of training new people to replace those who lost their lives to HIV/AIDS. Further, we must understand that the time spent attending funerals of colleagues, and/or general absenteeism all factor in to the productivity level. This, in turn, has a direct impact on the costs of production, which may lead to reduced profits and lead to greater difficulty in delivering products and services. The worst part about this is that such costs can be prevented with proper work place initiative. Companies now see the benefits of providing anti-retroviral therapy to those in need and at the same time keep them productive. Where employers provide healthcare and/or medical insurance, provision of anti-retroviral therapy is now possible.The monthly cost for a fixed dose combination of ARV drugs is US$15. It would seem obvious that any kind of remedy is now, not beyond the reach of mostof those who need ART. The overall goal is to increase access to ART to the organized private sector workforce and their families. The two strategies employed are: 1. The incorporation of ART into the medical scheme of private sector enterprises and the provision of ARV’s at ACCESS prices if they meet stringent criteria for pricing their products and ensuring compliance with World Health Organization and Government of Kenya guidelines for ART. 2. Training of staff on ARV’s, adherence counseling, referral to designated doctors and centres and follow up are an integral part of the project. Pharm Access Africa Limited has been working closely with a number of large private sector and parastatal employers who now provide anti-retroviral therapy to their employees, spouses, and children and in some cases the community at no/subsidized cost. Private sector partnership is an important ingredient in HIV/AIDS programming; however, it may prove to be difficult to find partners in the business arena that have similar goals and visions as IMPACT Project partners. Pharm Access Africa Limited worked with Presidential Emergency Program for AIDS Relief(PEPFAR) and Family Health International. Since our founding in 2001, this has aided our mission to increase access to healthcare in general, to medicines for HIV/AIDS related infections and ART in East and Central Africa. |
  |