US embassy cable - 05LAGOS1044

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAGOS 001044 
 
SIPDIS 
 
UNCLASSIFIED 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SOCI, KHIV, PGOV, NI 
SUBJECT:  ATTENTION TO HIV/AIDS INCREASES AMONG LAGOS 
BUSINESSES, BUT EFFECTS OF AIDS GO UNMEASURED 
 
 
1.  Summary:  Little statistical information exists on 
the effect of HIV/AIDS on the private sector in Lagos. 
The number of businesses with AIDS policies and 
programs has risen, but such efforts remain largely the 
domain of large multi-national companies.  Anecdotal 
information indicates the HIV/AIDS stigma remains high 
in the workplace.  Though business people interviewed 
assumed some colleagues had HIV/AIDS, none knew a 
person who admitted to having HIV/AIDS.  With so little 
information on prevalence, Lagos businesses are unable 
to quantify the effects of HIV/AIDS on absenteeism, 
productivity, or staff turnover.  If the relatively 
sophisticated companies cannot quantify the effects, a 
fortiori companies in smaller markets in Nigeria would 
also be unable to measure the effects.  End summary. 
 
2.  Methodology: to gain some expression of the effect 
of HIV/AIDS on businesses in Lagos in the absence of 
statistical data, econoff spoke with the managing 
director of the Nigerian branch of a West Africa 
regional bank, the corporate affairs manager of the 
Nigerian subsidiary of an international beverage 
company, the medical director for the Nigerian 
subsidiary of a multinational oil company, the general 
manager of one of Nigeria's largest livestock 
production companies, and the executive secretary of 
the Nigerian Business Coalition Against AIDS (NIBUCAA). 
The USG currently supports NIBUCAA's project to get 
companies to institute HIV/AIDS workplace policy under 
the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through 
USAID. 
 
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Policies and Programs Increase 
Among Larger Enterprises 
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3.  Among Nigerian businesses, attention to HIV/AIDS 
has increased in recent years.  An increasing number of 
companies have HIV/AIDS policies and programs. 
However, few smaller enterprises have policies or 
programs.  For example, NIBUCAA's entire membership is 
composed of multinational companies, their Nigerian 
subsidiaries, or the largest of Nigerian enterprises. 
Even with this increased attention, two of the four 
large companies interviewed have no HIV/AIDS workplace 
policy or awareness program.  One of the companies with 
no internal policy supports HIV/AIDS-awareness programs 
at several universities.  A representative of the other 
company said AIDS is not a "priority disease" for his 
company, as they lose employees to "many diseases." 
The company does, however, offer voluntary HIV testing 
for employees.  The NIBUCAA executive secretary said 
several coalition members and other companies with 
which he has worked do not want policies for individual 
diseases; they prefer to address HIV/AIDS under their 
general health policies. 
 
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Employees with HIV/AIDS Still 
Avoid Disclosing Status 
----------------------------- 
 
4.  Despite a slight reduction in stigma over the past 
several years and an increase in the number of Lagos 
companies with HIV/AIDS policies, people living with 
HIV/AIDS rarely disclose their status to co-workers or 
management.  One contact commented a "thick curtain of 
secrecy" remains in place.  He estimated that, two 
years after implementation of a company AIDS policy and 
continuing awareness programs, perhaps 10 percent of 
employees have changed their attitudes regarding 
HIV/AIDS. He said only few employees have used the 
counseling and testing services the company provides. 
He suggested the biggest problem is many people still 
do not believe they will be personally affected by the 
disease.  The representative said, however, that 
management considers HIV/AIDS programs an obligation to 
employees and the company will continue its program 
regardless of how many employees utilize it. 
 
5.  Another contact said he has seen a difference since 
his company began awareness programs in 1997: people 
talk about HIV/AIDS more frequently and knowledgeably. 
He acknowledged, however, that the stigma remains.  He 
said generally, people do not want to know others' HIV 
status and they do not want others to know their 
status.  The company works to instill in its managers 
the belief that if they care about business, they have 
to care about HIV/AIDS. 
 
6.  Seeming to support the statement that people do not 
want to know each others' status, none of the 
representatives, other than the medical director of one 
of the companies, knew of anyone in his or her company 
currently living with HIV/AIDS.  One contact said that 
of his company's 2,500 employees, he knew of four who 
died of AIDS in the last two years.  He knew the cause 
of death of these four because they used the company 
clinic.  He acknowledged that others unknown to him may 
have died of AIDS, particularly since many seriously 
ill employees simply quit work. 
 
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Comment 
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7.  With so little information on employees' HIV 
status, the effect of HIV/AIDS on productivity, 
absenteeism, and staff turnover goes largely 
unidentified and currently not measurable among Lagos 
businesses.  None of the representatives had an idea of 
the level of impact on their company.  Until the 
effects become more measurable, the primary incentive 
for companies to institute HIV/AIDS policies and 
programs will continue to be a sense of corporate 
obligation or fear of the potential consequences if 
current HIV/AIDS prevalence escalate.