FG Launches Revised Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS

The federal government has launched the revised National Workplace Policy and National Action Plan on Human Immune-deficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the country.

With this, government has reiterated its commitment to upholding the rights and dignity of all Nigerian workers irrespective of their HIV status and ensuring an end to stigmatisation and discrimination against workers infected and affected by HIV and AIDS.

Supervising Minister of Labour and Productivity, Alhaji Kabiru Tanimu Turaki, who presented the revised Policy and Action Plan to the social partners in the labour sector, civil society organisations, employers and Nigerians for effective implementation, stressed that fundamental rights at work were at the heart of the revised policy, drawing from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Recommendation No. 200.

At the launching of the policy in Abuja, which formed one of the events marking this year’s World AIDS Day celebration, the supervising minister noted that HIV and AIDS constitute one of the most serious health and socioeconomic challenges confronting the Nigerian society, particularly the world of work.

According to him, “It becomes more worrisome when the segment of the population mostly affected is the virile youths and middle age people within the productive age bracket.

He noted that the first National Workplace Policy on HIV and AIDS was developed by the labour ministry in 2005 in collaboration with the ILO and social partners such as the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Nigeria Employers’ Consultative Association (NECA), Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUCN), and stakeholders as Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS as well as other relevant NGOs.
“The review of the existing National Workplace Policy became imperative in the light of new epidemiological evidence on HIV and AIDS, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Recommendation on HIV and AIDS in the World of Work (No. 200) and more importantly to align  it with the  National Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS”, he stated.

Turaki, who expressed concern that the world of work represented the single largest group of people living with HIV in the world today, noted that the revised policy established key human rights principles to guide efforts to prevent HIV and mitigate its impact in workplaces across the country.

He stressed that the philosophy of the Policy was predicated on the fact that decent work is central to people’s wellbeing, adding that the policy “lays the foundation for a more gender sensitive HIV and AIDS response in Workplace”.

He pointed out that the participation of all the critical stakeholders in the fight against HIV and AIDS in the revision of the Policy documents would engender effective implementation of the National Policy and the National Action Plan respectively.