Ministry gets Global Fund grant to fight AIDS

March 23, 2007 :: Juliana Taiwo, ThisDay,Lagos

The Ministry of Labour and two other agencies have been given Global Fund grants through the workplace HIV/AIDS response initiative, to curb the spread and menace of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. The move, according to the organization, is to help checkmate the economic problems that come with disease in the form of poverty, loss of manpower and unemployment. In a statement, Juliet Amego, Head of Planning, Research and Statistics of Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity said, with 90 percent of infected people being in the productive age of 15–49 years,the country is likely to witness a rise in poverty in the country caused by either outright death of a sufferer or inability to continue to work. “In Nigeria, with a population of 140 million, the 4.4 percent sero-prevalence as at December 2005 shows that 3.5-4.0 million Nigerians have the infection. The consequences of this reality in the world of work are grave if adequate measures are not put in place to address the issue. These consequences range from direct and indirect economic consequences to psychological issues.” Giving reasons why the prevalence of the deadly disease will have negative economic impact on households, Amego said, “It is an expensive disease for households and creates numerous problems that affect work quality and performance, family incomes fall by 40% to 60% as the bulk of earning is spent on medical care and that it results in prolonged absence from work due to ill health causing a reduction in income.” In view of this, she said Global Fund will provide grant to actualize the implementation of the policy at enterprise level through the objective which is a workplace component of the grant meant to advocate for development and implementation of workplace HIV/AIDS policies and interventions. Other organizations selected to implement workplace activities under the round 5 grant include Society for Family Health (SFH), and Nigeria Business Coalition Against AIDS (NIBUCAA). Commending the effort of the Global Fund, the Minister of Labour and Productivity, Dr. Hassan Lawan said the grant will enhance productivity and build self confidence in workers as issue of stigmatization,discrimination and exclusion will be removed. He said, “It will help enterprises fulfil their cooperate responsibilities while improving their profitability and more importantly keeping the worker safe, healthy and productive.”