New York: Effective HIV policies have led to more supportive attitudes at the workplaces towards co-workers living with the virus, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said in its new report.

"With 33.2 million people globally living with HIV, the majority of whom are still working and in their most productive years, the workplace is a unique entry point in addressing HIV/AIDS," the agency noted.

The report summarizes the activities of the Strategic HIV/AIDS Responses in Enterprises (SHARE) project, which is active in over 650 workplaces in 24 countries, covering almost one million workers.

It includes data gathered by the ILO over the past four years from six pilot countries -- Belize, Benin, Cambodia, Ghana, Guyana and Togo -- on the impact of HIV/AIDS activities and non-discrimination policies in the workplace.

"Several countries offer outstanding examples of how they address HIV/AIDS using the workplace for prevention, care and support, and tackle stigma and discrimination," said Sophia Kisting, Director of the ILO Programme.

The agency reported that in all six pilot countries, workers demonstrated "a marked improvement" in attitudes towards people living with HIV.

The percentage of workers who reported having a supportive attitude towards co-workers living with HIV rose from 49 to 63 on average during the period covered. In Ghana that figure increased from 33 per cent to 63 per cent.

The report also shows that attitudes towards condom use improved considerably in most countries.

Further, the percentage of workers who reported using condoms with non-regular partners rose in all six countries from 74 per cent to 84 per cent.
Source : PTI