An innovative book, setting out the guidelines for building business coalitions against HIV/Aids throughout sub-Saharan Africa, was launched yesterday in Midrand, by the South African Business Coalition against HIV/Aids (Sabcoha) and the World Bank.

The launch of the manual coincided with a three-day conference from February 9 to 11 to bring together business coalitions and national Aids coordinating councils from sub-Saharan Africa to map the way forward for private sector involvement in the fight against HIV/Aids.

The conference was aimed at considering how African business coalitions against HIV/Aids can partner more efficiently with governments and other stakeholders to respond to the pandemic.

Fifteen countries were represented at the conference and the HIV/Aids Business Coalitions manual draws on all these countries experiences.

Speaking at a media briefing, the World Bank country director for Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland, Ritva Reinikka, said that, despite the fact that all of those infected with HIV/Aids on the subcontinent are in the prime of their earning years, it has been difficult to convince the private sector that HIV/Aids will indeed have an impact on current and future business opportunities.

“National business coalitions enable companies to leverage their resources more effectively to combat the disease. The public sector must harness the energy and resources of the private sector to truly make headway in mitigating the impact of HIV/Aids,” Reinikka said.

She went on to say that the Multicountry Aids Programme (MAP) of the World Bank, a $1,3-billion investment addressing the disease, has committed itself to supporting the participation and action of the private sector.

In order to effectively engage with the 15 countries in which the bank and its partners are working on the MAP initiative, a series of regional an subregional conferences with emerging business coalitions, the National Aids Commission, labour unions, employer federations, global companies and bilateral and multilateral donors including USAid, the Global Fund, Pepfar, UNAids and others, were held in the last few months.

“In each of the three conferences, held in Zambia, Namibia and Malawi, we developed joint strategies, country plans and regional priorities to engage a range of stakeholders that would lead to the engagement of the private sector in national HIV/Aids strategies. It was clear that companies joining together in coalitions were the key to creating a viable and influential dialogue between the private sector and the national coordinating bodies responsible for HIV/Aids,” Reinikka added.

The guidelines will be distributed free-of-charge to business organisations and will also be available on the World Bank website.

Currently the manual is available in English and French and Reinikka said that an Asian version will be published soon.

Sabcoha CEO Brad Mears said that he wants to see the private sector play a far more integral role in the fight against HIV/Aids, not only at a country-level but also at a New Partnership for Africa's Development and Southern African Development Community level.

He added that the conference was working on establishing a network of coalitions throughout sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are hoping to come out with the vision and steps to develop this network,” he said.

Mears said that every year, Sabcoha conducts a survey among business organisations to evaluate the impact of HIV/Aids in the workplace. He said that a number of sectors in South Africa were doing well at implementing comprehensive HIV/Aids workplace programmes, such as the mining, manufacturing and financial services sectors. However, he said that other sectors were not performing so well, such as wholesale and retail, the motor trade and the construction sector.

Mears also pointed out that the ability of the private sector to respond to the HIV/Aids challenge is directly related to the size of the private sector in the country, and in order to help small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) a toolkit on how to implement a comprehensive HIV/Aids workplace programme was created and launched last year.

Coordinator for private sector partnerships for ActAfrica, Elizabeth Ashbourne said at the media briefing that an encouraging trend emerging in the last three to six months, is the exertion of pressure onto smaller suppliers by their larger clients, to be HIV/Aids compliant, just like corporate governance principles have become mandatory procurement requirements.