Workplace policy on HIV/AIDS to be endorsed

Accra, July 8, GNA - The Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment on Friday said it has submitted to the Ghana AIDS Commission a workplace policy for endorsement and dissemination.

The Policy, which is Government's commitment to Persons Living With AIDS (PLWAs) and non-infected persons, addresses the issue of confidentiality, no screening for purposes of employment, reasonable accommodation and gender equality.

Mr Joseph Kofi Adda, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, announced this in a speech read on his behalf at the closing ceremony of the International Labour Organisation/United States Department Of Labour Peer Educators Training Workshop.

The workshop was organized for selected secretaries and administrative staff of the Ministries of Manpower, Youth and Employment,

Food and Agriculture and the Head of Civil Service. The workshop was to enhance civil servants' information on HIV/AIDS and learn key approaches to its prevention, care and support in workplaces through peer education.

The Minister noted that behavioural change remained the greatest puzzle in winning the war against the spread of HIV/AIDS.

For this reason, he said, the concept of peer-to-peer education was of remarkable importance to his ministry because it should uphold all strategies and programmes that seek to protect the most valuable human resource base.

Mr Adda said the peer approach formed part of a holistic approach to workplace intervention that included the development of policies that serve as guidelines for sustained workplace programmes. "We must adopt and adapt time tested and proven methods," he said.