Access to quality health care is an essential step to combat poverty. Healthy communities are better able to build the human and institutional capacity required for long-term economic development. We use our organizational capabilities, technology, employees and financial resources to support quality health care for women and children and help prevent HIV/AIDS.
Partnering to Eliminate HIV/AIDS
In Africa, HIV/AIDS disproportionately affects women, increasing the risk of mother-to-child transmission of the disease and threatening communities. In response, Chevron has made the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in Angola, Nigeria and South Africa one of our priorities.
We partner with governments and global, national and local organizations to strengthen health systems, create greater HIV/AIDS awareness, reduce the stigma associated with the disease and provide access to testing and treatment.
In Angola and Nigeria, our workplace Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program creates a culture that encourages HIV testing and treatment, fights stigma and provides comprehensive medical care for employees and their dependents. Through PMTCT, Chevron has achieved remarkable impact: For eight years in Angola and 12 years in Nigeria, Chevron has had no reports of mother-to-child HIV transmission among our employees or their qualified dependents.
In 2008, Chevron invested $30 million over three years to become the inaugural Corporate Champion of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Of our total investment, $20 million was dedicated to HIV/AIDS programs. This investment has helped support programs in South Africa, Thailand and Indonesia. In addition, Chevron has committed a total of $25 million between 2011 and 2013 to the U.S. Fund for the Global Fund, a U.S. nonprofit recently established to encourage individuals, corporations and charities to provide support for the mission of the Global Fund. The U.S. Fund for the Global Fund is using this contribution to support the Global Fund's HIV/AIDS grants in Angola, South Africa, Thailand and Vietnam.
In June 2011, Chevron joined UNAIDS, the United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and other world leaders in pledging $20 million to eliminate new HIV infections among children by 2015 and help keep mothers alive. In July 2012, we launched new partnerships in Nigeria with Pact, mothers2mothers and the Business Leadership Council. Through these partnerships, we are helping to strengthen Nigeria's PMTCT delivery model, lay the foundation for establishing a Mentor Mother program in Lagos State and support organizations in Bayelsa State to increase HIV education, promote voluntary counseling and testing and reduce the stigma of AIDS.
We also partner with the Baylor College of Medicine and the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) at Texas Children's Hospital, the largest university-based program in the world dedicated to improving the lives of HIV-infected children. This global health group provides life-saving pediatric health care, treatment and training to the most medically underserved populations in Africa. Our five-year, $6 million agreement to expand the program supports the recruitment and training of 10 American physicians each year to expand BIPAI's program in Angola and Liberia.
Working to Create Healthier Communities
Our innovative program partnerships are helping to create healthier communities around the world.
In Thailand, we work with Path and the Mahasadum Group to conduct AIDS Education Youth Camps. More than 50 young leaders received leadership and HIV/AIDS-awareness training. AIDS Awareness workshops were also conducted in 11 schools in Nakhon Si Thamarat Province and reached more than 550 students. Through a parent educator program, PATH and Chevron taught 200 adults the skills they need to communicate with their children about HIV/AIDS. At our Caltex stations in Bangkok, we distributed more than 40,000 HIV/AIDS brochures to young public transportation drivers.
In West Java, Indonesia, we helped establish the "I Wanna Live" HIV/AIDS awareness campaign to teach junior and high school students and teachers about the prevention and spread of HIV/AIDS. More than 100 students from the region were selected and trained as program ambassadors. The campaign has reached more than 25,000 youngsters who are now sharing information about the danger and prevention of HIV/AIDS with their peers and families.
In South Africa, Chevron partners with North Star Alliance, an organization created to address the impact of HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases among long-distance truck drivers and their communities. A Roadside Wellness Center at a Caltex Truck Stop off a major highway near Durban provides health services to the estimated 3,500 truckers who travel the route each day.
Chevron Nigeria has deployed its Workplace Wellness initiative to small and medium-size businesses in Lagos. Although many large businesses in Nigeria have begun offering HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services to employees, the vast majority of small and mid-size businesses—which make up 70 to 80 percent of businesses in Nigeria—have not. This peer education program includes HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis training for employees as well as members of their communities.
Updated: November 2012