HIV

Workplace programmes

The directive for HIV in the workplace was originally issued in 1995 and revised in 1997 and 2003. This revised version includes access to HIV anti-retroviral drugs for all Federation Secretariat staff who need them, regardless of where they work. It includes lessons learnt and builds on the experience of what has been shown to work in terms of prevention, stigma reduction and provision of care and treatment.

The International Federation’s secretariat is committed to fully include those infected with HIV in its workplaces and to ensure that employees with HIV are entitled to the same rights, benefits and opportunities as their co-workers.

The directive is a blue print for National Societies to take up and adapt. It is crucial to protect HIV-positive volunteers whose work is essential at a ground level in high prevalence countries.

The directive:

1. Makes an explicit commitment to comprehensively address HIV in the workplace, throughout the organization and to ensure access to HIV anti-retroviral drugs for treatment of employees who need it.
2. Protects the rights of employees who are infected or assumed to be infected with HIV.
3. Provides managers at all levels with clear guidance for managerial decisions when confronted with issues relating to HIV.
4. Lays down a standard of behaviour for all employees of the International Federation, whether living with HIV or not.
5. Helps employees living with HIV to understand what support and care they will receive, so that they are more likely to see the benefits of voluntary counselling and testing, and accessing treatment in a timely manner.

Publications

International Federation Secretariat HIV in the Workplace Directive 2006, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 2006