South African motor manufacturers should provide HAART to their employees, according to the head of the organisation representing the country’s car makers.
Providing anti-HIV medication to employees would be more cost effective than losing productivity through illness related absenteeism and the need for re-training said Ian Robertson, chairman of the National Automobile Manufacturers of SA at the opening ceremony of a motor conference in Johannesburg. He was supported by other speakers who highlighted how AIDS would reduce the supply of trained labour and seriously impact on car sales.
The prevalence of HIV amongst skilled workers in South Africa is thought to be as much as 19%, meaning that employers face the prospect of high levels of staff sickness and mortality, pushing up the costs of recruitment, training, and health care schemes.
What’s more, AIDS is predicted to adversely affect the wider economy of South Africa. With 5,000 AIDS deaths a week, motor industry analysts are predicting that pool of potential consumers is going to be substantially reduced, and that as spending on medicines and health care increases, the amount of money free to allocate to luxury goods will fall dramatically.
The situation could be made worse by a collapse in confidence amongst foreign investors, with motor industry economist Dr Neal Bruton predicting “lower levels of foreign investment, lower productivity, demoralised and sick workers, labour disputes, erratic performance, high absenteeism and increased government debt.”
Some South African car makers already provide HIV treatment programmes and mining companies such as De Beers and Anglo American already have schemes in place or are planning to start them shortly. The multinational Coca-Cola recently announced it was expanding its HIV treatments programme to include its bottling sub-contractors following fierce criticism from treatment activists.