The experts came to the following conclusions: an overwhelming majority of Russian-based companies have not yet grown to properly realize economic hazards rising as the epidemic spreads. Only few companies are ready with corporate strategies to protect their personnel from HIV, and guarantee HIV-infected employees' rights.
Russian companies know desperately little of what there is to know about HIV contagion and related legal matters-in particular, measures Russia's acting legislation envisages to protect infected persons from discrimination, and guarantee necessary secrecy.
A mere 56 per cent of respondents from among the personnel board staff of this country's corporate majors said they were sure HIV was not a respiratory infection. An alarming 45 per cent said that, in case one of their employees had been positively diagnosed for HIV, the entire personnel were to be notified for their own safety. A mere 30 per cent were sure there was no chance to contact the human immunodeficiency virus through sharing office premises with an infected person.
"Managers of many restaurants, security agencies, schools, stores and gas stations require from their employees medical certificates of negative HIV tests," says Elizaveta Morozova, development manager of the Infoplus AIDS public education center. "A lady manager once asked me whether she had legal chance to fire a HIV-positive employee. Many companies have not the slightest idea they can't dismiss infected people on the grounds of positive tests."
Too many Russian companies are shrugging off AIDS prevention as a minor matter, and badly underestimate the destructive impact an AIDS epidemic may have on economic competitiveness, concluded the experts.
Certain hopeful mental shifts are underway, despite all. The sheer fact of business tycoons gathering for an AIDS-related forum-better late than never-proves the point. "A dialogue of HIV experts with the business community has taken start. But it's barely emerging. Biz has only turned to practical prevention projects. It's stupid to ask a toddler whether he has sprinted a hundred-meter race," remarked Nikolai Nedzelsky, Infoplus Director.
The most progressive of Russian-based companies are ready with blueprints to prevent their personnel contacting HIV. They have launched practical action, too, for public education and disease prevention. Thus, the AvtoVAZ automotive giant, based in Togliatti on the Volga bank, has arranged practical training sessions for its personnel. It makes considerable allocations to test employees and prevent contagion, and gathers regular roundtables on the issue. The company also intends to establish an on-line anti-AIDS club, and is drafting programs to educate parents. Certain companies are arranging educational work at secondary general-educational and vocational schools, in colleges and universities.
