Below are excerpts from an Editors' Forum on HIV/AIDS Testing at the Workplace held at the Gleaner Company's office, downtown Kingston on October 3, 2006

Rodney Davis

Chairman, Jamaica Business Council on HIV/AIDS

We believe that businesses should care about HIV/AIDS because it is affecting (your operation) whether you get involved or not. It is a generalised epidemic in Jamaica and a growing economic threat. HIV/AIDS is affecting the labour market, not only in this generation but for the next to come. Given the growing impact on the labour force, this will have a long-term impact on the economic growth and development in Jamaica if it is not dealt with effectively.

As a council, we oppose mandatory HIV testing for the purposes of exclusion from employment since an HIV-positive test result doesn't on its own mean that an employee is not fit for work. We support and will promote wide-scale voluntary HIV counselling and testing and we have an inclusive forum for businesses to share experiences and challenges and, hopefully, best practices and gain a greater understanding of the workplace business issues involved with HIV/AIDS. We would also like to see that there is a standard across businesses about the types of practices, from an HR perspective, that businesses can adopt without reinventing the wheel each time a business has to deal with or wishes to address policies on this particular subject. We recognise the value of a healthy and productive workplace and will provide the linkages for businesses to get the support that they need. We currently have 21 founding members and we would like to grow this number over the next few months (and) ensure that our mix includes small businesses, medium-size businesses and large businesses.

Faith Hamer

Policy Advocacy Officer, Ministry of Health

Allowing persons to do a test through mandatory means does not help your position any further because an HIV test and the result is a snapshot of the time when you took the test. You can change that picture very rapidly by the same evening, for example, if you have unprotected sex, which is the primary method by which HIV is transmitted in Jamaica. So, you would still have people, the same people that you are driving from your workforce, in your workforce who are living with HIV and you don't know it. We would (also) like to support that HIV testing not be used to prevent people from participating in work or educational processes.

Professor Peter Figueroa

Ministry of Health

We are saying we want all sexually-active persons to get tested, because we think it is important for persons to know their HIV status. If they are negative, then they can take steps to ensure that they remain negative by practising safe sex and avoiding risk taking. if they are positive, then they can enter into treatment early. So, we definitely are promoting persons getting testing. Now, when it comes to testing for pre-employment, we have a problem, because in the current situation, unfortunately, there are some employers who use the result of the test to determine whether they are going to employ you or not. So, in a situation where we have had cases of people being excluded from employment due to a positive test, then we cannot agree with routine pre-employment testing. However, if someone is employed and there is a medical programme at the workplace and it is done privately and confidentially and the information remains with the doctor, then certainly, that is an opportunity for HIV testing which we would support, but it must be private and confidential and voluntary. There are workplaces in Jamaica where that is the case. They encourage the people to do annual medicals and the results stay with the doctor.

Sherry Ann McGregor

Lawyer, National AIDS Committee

Different jurisdictions have approached (legislating against discrimination on the grounds of being HIV/AIDS-positive) in different ways and with varying results. We have to look at our own situation. Is it that there are other health issues which give rise to the stigma and discrimination that we recognise arise in the HIV scenario? If that is so, then the approach could be that we formulate anti-discrimination legislation generally, or we attempt to attack the issue regarding AIDS. However, what I would like to bring to your attention, if most people don't already know, is that the National AIDS Committee did make submissions to the Joint Select Committee of Parliament when they were contemplating the Charter of Rights to state that there should be no discrimination on the basis of health cases in general. Also, we are attempting to put in place legislation to deal with discrimination. A further effort is being made to amend the constitution generally because, as it now stands, there is no provision which says that there ought to be no discrimination on the grounds of health.

Lisa Officer

HR manager, Cable and Wireless Jamaica

As an employer, we have to allow employers to come into this conversation, but we recognise that discrimination in the workplace may be 90 per cent among employees. That is why it's a leadership issue and it is a leadership issue for us at Cable and Wireless but we don't want to necessarily pinpoint Cable and Wireless because we demonstrate best practices that we think several others do, including my colleague at the table. So, I would use the opportunity to just go through some of those best practices that we want employers to use which, for instance, a good policy statement which emphasises anti-discrimination. A good employer needs the highest sponsorship voice (such as the the CEO) at the table, somebody who can articulate this thing at ease ... because some managers and leaders are a little uncomfortable (with the subject of HIV/AIDS). It sends a good signal in the organisation. Effective support programmes are (also) necessary. Those are access to counselling, whether you have it in-house or you can at least turn to the ministry to get that kind of support; good understanding with the key stakeholders - worker representative (and) union; the medical practitioner; and the insurance provider.

Paulette Eulett

Life of Jamaica Limited

Most of you know that Life of Jamaica has never excluded HIV from their insurance programmes. However, there are not many people who claim on the health insurance system for HIV medication. I think that is because they are perhaps not many (HIV/AIDS-affected) people who are employed or they resist claiming because of the discrimination and the stigmatisation because they are not confident that the information will be kept confidentially, simply because the Government does not legislate it. In the United States, you have a different legislation, you have a lot of other legislation that deal with privacy and confidentiality issues. I think that our problem is not necessarily HIV; I think our main problem is the stigmatisation and the discrimination. I think in all companies, as managers, we can set the tone and set the example.

Status of HIV/AIDS in Jamaica

Approximately 25,000 people living with HIV/AIDS.

1.5 per cent prevalence rate.

HIV/AIDS is leading cause of death, second to heart disease.

About one in four workplaces has an HIV-positive employee.

Women account for the majority of new infection.

Kingston, St. Andrew and St. James account for almost 70 per cent of HIV/AIDS cases.