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Background: The Human and Business Impacts of Disease
Approach: Addressing HIV/AIDS on All Fronts
Future Goals: Developing a Global Policy
Background: The Human and Business Impacts of Disease
HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases are pressing global issues with significant human impact and related social, economic and political implications. Nowhere is the impact of HIV/AIDS and these other diseases currently more apparent than in sub-Saharan Africa, where ChevronTexaco is the largest U.S.-based investor. For example, with 10 percent of the world's population, Africa accounts for 70 percent of the world's HIV/AIDS cases. Because the disease primarily strikes people in their 20s to 40s - the most productive segment of the labor force - it threatens to reverse economic and development strides African nations have made over the past decade.
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| ChevronTexaco helped build a blood bank in Cabinda, Angola, which reduced HIV cases caused by contaminated blood from 25 percent to 1 percent. |
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For individual businesses, HIV/AIDS can challenge their ability to operate. In some African nations, the epidemic may affect as much as 30 percent of the labor pool over the next 20 years, according to the International Labour Organization. But HIV/AIDS is not limited to Africa. According to UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, Eastern Europe and Central Asia have the fastest-growing HIV/AIDS epidemics worldwide.
Approach: Addressing HIV/AIDS on All Fronts
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| Nzinga Miguel examines plasma samples at St. Lucas Clinic in Kifangondo, Angola. |
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ChevronTexaco believes that multinational companies are important participants in the global effort to find solutions to HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases. ChevronTexaco's HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention programs in North America date from the 1980s, and since that time, the company has developed and supported a variety of other HIV/AIDS programs throughout its worldwide operations.
ChevronTexaco's approach to addressing HIV/AIDS starts with the premise that it is a preventable disease. Our awareness, prevention, voluntary testing, counseling and related programs focus on employees, their families and host communities. We also work with governments, nongovernmental organizations, multilateral agencies and international initiatives - such as the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, the World Economic Forum's Global Health Initiative, the United Nations, the U.S. State Department and the Corporate Council on Africa's Task Force on HIV/AIDS - to expand our knowledge of how to effectively combat HIV/AIDS across our operations and share our experiences with others.
We are reviewing and assessing our worldwide HIV/AIDS programs and practices. In addition to gathering information about own operations, we are consulting with internal and external experts and reviewing leading companies' approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
Future Goals: Developing a Global Policy
ChevronTexaco intends to adopt a corporatewide HIV/AIDS policy designed to provide a global standard on such issues as nondiscrimination, testing, employee benefits, confidentiality and occupational health and safety. We also are developing other tools and resources to help our business units develop and implement HIV/AIDS programs tailored to their countries or regions.
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