South African Mid-Sized Firms Ignore HIV/AIDS: Survey

Just 26 percent of medium-sized South African businesses expect HIV/AIDS to critically impact economic growth over the next five years, according to the Grant Thornton 2005 Business Owners Survey released Thursday. Around half of owners said they had a formal HIV/AIDS strategy in place, and of those, over a third did not have anyone overseeing that policy. The study involved 300 medium-sized companies that employ between 50 and 250 people.

"Given the acknowledged impact that HIV/AIDS is having ... it is disappointing that over the last three years, the survey has recorded very little change in the attitude of business owners in providing direct assistance to their employees," said Lee-Anne Bac, head of strategic solutions at Grant Thornton.

While some blue chip South African firms have instituted HIV/AIDS policies for their employees -- including free testing, awareness education, health care, and condom distribution -- the survey found that smaller businesses are doing even less for their staff than in previous years.

"For businesses of this size, it doesn't seem like the owners are going to make a concerted effort to tackle the problem until it really starts having a major impact on the workforce, by which time it could be too late," noted Bac.

Back to other news for April 25, 2005

Search the Newsroom archive