By Dieneke ter Huurne, HIV
Officer (IPPF Central Office)
HIV is a workplace issue. According to the
International Labour Organization, nine out of every ten people living with HIV
will go to work each day (available here). Unfortunately, stigma and discrimination remain a reality in many workplace
settings. To counter this, it is
imperative that we adopt, institutionalize and internalize HIV workplace
policies and programmes across the Federation.
Such policies and programmes serve to sensitize, inform and educate our
staff and volunteers about HIV and AIDS. They also act as a way of challenging,
and ultimately reducing, instances and acts of discrimination towards those
living with or affected by HIV.
As an
employer of more than 30,000 staff around the world, and working in
collaboration with more than one million volunteers, IPPF has a collective
responsibility to provide a supportive and non-discriminatory work environment
for all. In 2010, IPPF’s Governing Council adopted a revised HIV policy,
which includes our commitment to addressing HIV in the workplace. We have
institutionalised this commitment by making it a requirement for accredited
Member Associations to have an HIV workplace policy. By 2011, more than 83 per
cent of all Member Associations had a written HIV workplace policy; up from 56 per
cent in 2009.
IPPF also actively encourages people living with HIV
to work and volunteer in Member Associations and across the Secretariat. In
order to support people living with HIV working in the Federation, IPPF+ was
launched to ensure IPPF is recognized as an organization that not only responds
to HIV issues in the communities in which we work, but also as an employer that
has grappled with the workplace effects of this epidemic.
The challenge now is to bring these policies and initiatives
to life and internalize HIV workplace programmes across all our offices and
branches. Three key strategies to do this are included in the box below. IPPF
has also developed a training guide to support staff at IPPF Regional Offices
and Member Associations with planning and facilitating HIV workplace trainings.
It will become available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic early in 2013 –
so keep an eye out for it!
XXX