Managing HIV/AIDS at Workplace Course.

This practical workshop provides relevant information on HIV/AIDS including the impact the epidemic has

in the workplace and the staff. It provides insights into development, implementation and active

maintenance of HIV/AIDS workplace policies incorporating the legal and moral requirements for such policies.

Participants will look at the personal impacts on employees as well as on organizational areas such as finance, policy and procedures, business climate, roles and responsibilities, human resource adjustments and programmes. Participants will gain insight into the care continuum of HIV positive people, prevention strategies, the rights of the employee and employer, workplace HIV/AIDS critical issues, as well as best practice in HIV/AIDS management. 

Course Objectives

• Assess the extent of their existing knowledge and experience of HIV/AIDS and dread diseases
• Understand what HIV/AIDS is and what causes it
• Understand what HIV/AIDS is and where it comes from
• Explain how infection takes place and the progression of the disease
• Appreciate the impact of HIV/AIDS on the individual, the family, the workplace and community
• Be familiar with rights of employee and employer related to HIV/AIDS
• Conduct an impact analysis for your unit/ department
• Identify workplace implementation strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment
• Be able to deal with the fear and stigma of HIV/AIDS
• How to develop attitudes and values conducive to creating a positive environment
• Develop attitudes and values conducive to creating a supportive environment
• Understand how to counsel people affected by HIV/AIDS.
• Develop a workplace policy and program to minimise the negative impact of HIV/AIDS
• Identify dread diseases and their impact on your team/business unit
• Promote a non-discriminatory work environment and practices in relation to dread diseases

Assessing and deepening your knowledge of HIV/AIDS

• Questionnaire to assess your current understanding of the HIV/AIDS pandemic
• A brief history of HIV and AIDS
• HIV/AIDS and the immune system
• The stages of HIV
• Knowledge is power / prevention
• The Gender dimension of HIV/AIDS

 Counseling, Testing and Treatment

• Workplace voluntary counseling and testing
• Principles of counselling
• Testing for HIV/AIDS
• Human responses to HIV infection and the grief cycle

Promoting a non-discriminatory work environment

• Managing issues in the workplace – privacy, confidentiality, types of unfair discrimination Stigma
• Measures for countering discrimination in the workplace

Preparing to deal with the effects of HIV/AIDS in your unit

• Scope and areas of impact – structure of unit, historical overview of unit or department, role and job changes,
• Policies and procedures, finance, human resources, business culture, communication and training
• Formulating a report
• Developing an action plan with recommendations
• Schedule, budget and monitoring and evaluation tools
• Workplace HIV/AIDS Policy and Programmes
• The main elements of an effective workplace policy
• Managing workloads of effected people
• Criteria for assessing when employees are too ill to work
• Dealing with employees who refuse to work with HIV infected colleagues
• Basic principles of employee benefits
• Programme issues in the HIV/AIDS Workplace policy

 Dreaded diseases in the work place

• TB– its nature and transmission and assumptions, fears and prejudices around the disease
• Cancer – Its nature, transmission and assumptions, fears and prejudices around the disease
• HIV/AIDS – its nature and transmission and assumptions, fears and prejudices surrounding the disease
• Your experience of dreaded diseases

Way forward After the Training

Participants will develop a work plan through the help of facilitators that stipulates application of skills acquired in improving their organizations. ASPM will monitor implementation progress after the training.

Training Evaluation:

Participants will undertake a simple need assessment before the training to identify the knowledge gaps and also after the training, so as to monitor knowledge and skills gained through the training