Heineken has reported on the practicalities of delivering HAART to its African employees. One initiative taken by the brewer has been to ask employees for token cash contributions towards the cost of their drugs, as they believe this will improve adherence and emphasise that Heineken is “not an NGO.” Encouragingly, Heineken has seen a steep fall in HIV-related deaths amongst its workforce when anti-HIV treatments have been provided.
Direct Heineken employees and their immediate dependents are eligible for the treatment programme, which is already operational in Rwanda and Burundi. Schemes started this year in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with countries such as Angola, where Heineken has only a minority stake in breweries, scheduled to initiate programmes in the future.
The cost to Heineken of providing antiretrovirals is estimated to be approximately US$2 million per year, and the not-for-profit agency PharmAccess has been contracted by Heineken to administer the treatment programme.
Heineken had been fearful that up to 20% of its key staff could die because of HIV, and the success of its antiretroviral provision is already being demonstrated by reduced worker mortality. In one 600-worker brewery, ten Heineken workers a year were dying because of HIV, a figure which fell to just one (a person who refused HAART) after anti-HIV therapy was made available.
Unexpected practical problems have, however, already been encountered in delivering treatments, including how to define a dependent, and airlines refusing to carry HIV-infected blood which needed transporting for testing.
Further information on this website
Mining company gives anti-HIV drugs to first three employees – news story
South African car companies urged to provide HAART – news story
Coke to provide treatments at its African bottling companies – news story