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Anglo American plc
("Anglo American")
ISIN code: GB0004901517
Issuer code: ANAAL
Alpha code: AGL
ANGLO AMERICAN ANNOUNCES FURTHER STEPS IN ITS HIV/AIDS STRATEGY FOR
PROVIDING ANTI-RETROVIRAL THERAPY TO EMPLOYEES WITH HIV/AIDS
The provision of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS has been the
subject of intense discussion and research within the Anglo American
Group over the last eighteen months.
Operating companies will now be encouraged to enhance their HIV/AIDS
wellness programmes by making ART available at company expense to HIV
positive employees who do not have an ART benefit through a medical aid
scheme and who have progressed to a stage of HIV infection where ART is
clinically indicated. These companies will consult with both trade
unions and government on issues relating to implementation.
The progressive rollout will be coordinated across the group using
available health care facilities and according to well-defined protocols
with rigorous monitoring and evaluation. The pace of the rollout will
vary at company level depending, inter alia, on the availability of
suitable company health infrastructure. The first steps on a pilot
basis have already been signalled in terms of the AngloGold/Union and
Association agreement on HIV/AIDS signed on 25 July 2002.
It is accepted internationally that the magnitude of the health
challenge posed by HIV/AIDS, especially in southern Africa, is such that
it cannot be adequately addressed by individual companies or even
sectors acting in isolation but requires a partnership between all
stakeholders. Anglo American and its operating companies will,
therefore, seek to work with national and provincial governments and
local authorities, international donors such as the Global Fund, and
appropriate NGOs and communities in order that the public sector
capacity is created to extend ART delivery beyond the workplace to the
broader community, including dependents of employees and retired
employees, who do not belong to medical aid schemes with an ART benefit.
The costs to individual operating companies will depend on the level of
HIV prevalence, the rate of uptake by employees meeting the clinical
criteria for ART and on the prices and types of drugs prescribed. It is
anticipated that the prices of drugs will fall significantly as usage
increases and/or generic alternatives become available.
The operating companies expect to derive benefits from their HIV
programmes through extending the working lives of infected employees and
containing future AIDS related costs, including absenteeism, medical
expenses, pension benefits and the recruitment and training costs
required to replace employees who become too ill to work.
Finally, operating companies within the Anglo American Group will
continue to promote their substantial education and prevention
programmes as it is vital to ensure that the large majority of our
employees who are HIV negative remain so. One of the key benefits of a
comprehensive strategy with an emphasis on voluntary counselling and
testing is that it promotes the individual behavioural change that is
essential to turn the tide of the AIDS epidemic.
BACKGROUND
During the 1990`s Anglo American developed a comprehensive HIV/AIDS
programme that covered both prevention and care of its employees
suffering from HIV/AIDS. In the Anglo American Safety, Health and
Environmental Report of 2001 this was published as a strategy comprising
the following key elements.
- Pursuing the HIV/AIDS prevention campaign with renewed vigour, with
special emphasis on partnerships and community interventions.
- Establishing the prevalence of HIV infection at all southern African
operations through voluntary, anonymous, unlinked HIV prevalence
surveys.
- Encouraging large scale voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) for
HIV infection in the workforce and in the surrounding community.
- Linking VCT to a programme of care for people infected with HIV.
- Implementing large-scale prevention and treatment campaigns for
sexually transmitted infections (STI`s).
- Implementing a formal system of HIV/AIDS Reporting.
- Conducting research into the effectiveness of the Group`s HIV/AIDS
strategy.
- Participating in HIV clinical vaccine trials.
HIV/AIDS wellness programmes are an integral part of the care and
support that are provided for individuals that are infected with HIV.
The elements of these programmes now comprise:
- understanding the disease through intensive counselling and support;
- encouraging a healthy lifestyle, with good nutrition;
- preventing and treating opportunistic infections, especially TB;
- providing access to appropriate and sustainable antiretroviral therapy
(ART) when clinically indicated.
Anglo American`s pioneering work in the field of policy and advocacy on
HIV/AIDS has been recognised by a Commonwealth award for action on
HIV/AIDS in 2001.
Date:
6 August 2002
Distributed by:
Anglo American Corporate Communication
Contacts:
Anne Dunn
Tel: +27 11 638 4730
Mob: +27 82 448 2684
Marion Dixon
Tel: +27 11 638 3001
mob: +27 82 775 5520
Date: 06/08/2002 08:57:34 AM Produced by the JSE SENS Department
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