MONTEGO BAY, St James — Final-year students of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communications (CARIMAC) at the University of the West Indies’ Western Jamaica Campus, in collaboration with the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department within the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, will today host a workshop targeting business operators and their employees here in the continued fight against HIV/AIDS.

The workshop, which will be held at the university’s campus at Queens Drive, Montego Bay, will run from 10:00am to 3:00pm under the theme HIV and AIDS & the Workplace.

The initiative is expected to engage at least 10 business owners, their human resource personnel and employees, with the objective of these businesses implementing policies on how to treat with members of their workforce with the disease.

Following a recent call from OSH director Robert Chung to address the negative impact of HIV and AIDS in the workplace, the workshop will prove timely as the national statistics reveal that St James continues to lead all parishes in the number of people affected by the disease.

Also of concern is that the greatest number of those affected is between 15-49 years -old, a group that represents the most productive segment of the Jamaican workforce.

Paige Andrew, workshop co-ordinator, noted that with more businesses adopting a workplace policy on HIV/AIDS, the initiative would assist in reducing the spread of HIV and the prevention of HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.

“Limiting the spread of HIV and AIDS and increasing awareness about the disease is everybody’s business and should be treated as such. Employers have a critical role to play in this global fight and we encourage them to join the efforts,” Andrew stated.

In an article published by the Jamaica Observer last month Chung was reported as saying that the “stigma and discrimination associated with the virus has caused devastation and workplaces to become dysfunctional”. He said further that “by discriminating against workers with HIV and AIDS and other illnesses, the human resource capacity in workplaces is being depleted”.

The foundation of the National Workplace Policy on HIV and AIDS is based on 10 key principles identified by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), some of which include: Non-discrimination, gender equality, confidentiality, continuation of employment and care and support.

The student-led collaborative initiative intends to bring this issue to the fore for business operators in St James, to assist the Government’s drive to curtail the epidemic and encourage the implementation of programmes aimed at normalising HIV and AIDS at the workplace through improved access to guidelines, treatment and care and support efforts.