Kenya: Fighting HIV/AIDS

A strategy for HIV/AIDS education and prevention

As there is currently no cure for AIDS, prevention is critical to halt the spread of the disease, and education is essential to make that possible.

Employees can play a vital role in raising awareness of HIV/AIDS among their colleagues. In 2009, employee advocates from Unilever and seven other companies met to share their experiences at an interactive event organised by Neighbours Against AIDS. The event’s theme - The Joy of Being My Peer’s Good Keeper – was intended to get them talking openly about what they had learnt, share examples of best practice and map out activities for the year ahead.   

Neighbours Against AIDS is a coalition of eight companies committed to developing a common approach to tackling HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The coalition, launched by Unilever Kenya and five other major companies in 2002, is part of Unilever’s 15 year campaign to educate its employees about the disease. Now eight-strong, the Neighbours Against AIDS coalition meets regularly to share ideas and experience. 

The coalition’s focus is two fold. As well as working with companies it is also working with communities through education, voluntary counselling and testing to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS and mitigate its impact. For example, it supports a community feeding programme for families where the wage earner is incapacitated due to HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. Vitamin supplements are provided to boost the sufferer’s nutritional status and when their health returns, families are weaned off the programme to ensure they don’t grow dependent on food donations.

Sharing learning with other companies

In a separate initiative, Unilever Kenya helped set up the Kenya HIV/AIDS Private Sector Business Council. The Council encourages Kenyan companies to adopt workplace HIV/AIDS programmes by creating and building their capacity to fight the disease and share best practice. It provides information and resources to help employers combat stigma in the workplace. Unilever Kenya has run a series of awareness-raising activities over the years, ranging from workshops and workplace posters to peer education schemes and educational leaflets. Other companies have taken the model as the basis for setting up their own workplace programmes.

From awareness to action

Awareness of HIV/AIDS is almost universal among the Kenyan population, says Mumbi Kyalo, Corporate Relations Manager with Unilever Kenya. To promote action, two campaigns, which were launched in 2004, still encourage people to take HIV tests and to think about the risks associated with their sexual relationships.

These themes form the centrepiece of the annual week of events organised by Neighbours Against AIDS. "Employees attribute a lot of their behavioural change to the campaigns that we've started in the workplace. The week of events, for example, gives them a platform to interact with other people. It provides them with a forum to come out and speak, as well as an opportunity for the company to understand what employees feel about the threat of AIDS," says Mumbi.

Employees, their families and friends listen to talks on issues like nutrition and TB (tuberculosis), which have a direct bearing on people living with HIV/AIDS. Voluntary counselling and testing is offered to demystify HIV/AIDS, and health checks for blood pressure, body mass index and diabetes are also given.

In 2010 the coalition aims to ramp-up voluntary counselling and testing services to encourage more employees to know their status.

The social, cultural and economic impact of the AIDS pandemic has been huge, with HIV/AIDS claiming over 1.2 million Kenyan lives. However, the figures are dropping. According to the most recent official estimates, about one in every 15 people is infected with HIV – half the number in 2002.