MEXICO CITY, MEXICO - OTHER Caribbean islands will soon have to follow Jamaica's example and establish a national HIV/AIDS policy for the workplace, as soon as a regional policy - modelled after International Labour Organisation (ILO) guidelines - is ready for implementation.

"In terms of programmes, Jamaica has gone very far ahead as they not only have a workplace policy, but have also developed material from which we are borrowing to share with other countries," said director of the Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV and AIDS (PANCAP), Carl Browne.

Browne, who spoke to Career & Education shortly after a session on 'Creative Caribbean Approaches to the HIV epidemic' at the International AIDS Society (IAS) XVII AIDS Conference two Thursdays ago, added that Jamaica's success is due to the involvement of a number of government ministries and the private sector. The establishment of a business council has also proven helpful, he noted.

Meanwhile, Browne said PANCAP will work with individual countries to implement a national workplace policy that can be tailored to their needs, with the objective being to benefit workers and their families. In addition to developing an HIV/AIDS policy that includes a support service component, workplaces will also be required to undertake an ongoing education programme. A toolkit consisting of a video will also be made available for countries to present to respective businesses.

"At the end, we want each country to send a report of the number of enterprises they have reached in order for us to develop a database," he said.

Browne said that countries will be required to report by June of each year so that a consolidated report can be ready for the regional meeting in October.

One workplace policy that has reaped great success in Jamaica is that of the tourism sector. Last year alone, 600 people in the sector were tested for HIV/AIDS and already this year, 400 have volunteered for testing.

Renee Johnson - the Tourism Product Development Company's (TPDCO's) HIV programme officer who did a poster exhibition at the recent Mexico conference - said the sector had been involved in the response since 2005, having been identified as critical due to a variety of factors. These factors, she explained, include its mobile population, its huge economic impact and the strong link between sex and tourism.

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