The ILO is the lead UN agency for HIV/AIDS policies and programmes in the world of work and private sector mobilization. The ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work (ILO/AIDS) plays a key role in the HIV/AIDS global response through workplaces. HIV/AIDS is an integral part of the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda. ILO/AIDS also contributes to the UN Millennium Development Goals by achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
As a cosponsor organization, the ILO contributes towards the outcome-based framework of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and to the priority areas identified by UNAIDS.
The ILO mobilizes governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations through its tripartite structure and builds on a long-lasting experience in creating jobs, protecting the rights of workers, opposing discrimination and improving social protection, occupational safety and health.
Strategic objectives of ILO/AIDS
- Promote the development of national policy and legal frameworks based on the Recommendation concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, 2010 (No. 200) and the principles of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work (2001);
- Strengthen HIV prevention and social protection programmes in the world of work, including employment creation, focusing on workers at risk in key economic sectors in the formal as well as the informal economy.
Key principles guiding ILO/AIDS’ action
- A rights-based and gender-sensitive approach;
- Non-discrimination in the world of work;
- Enhancing leadership and action at the national level for workplace policies and programmes;
- Integrating HIV/AIDS into existing world of work structures and in the ILO Decent Work Country Programmes, global products and Declaration on Social Justice;
- Integrating HIV/AIDS workplace initiatives into the National AIDS policies, legislation, strategies and programmes;
- Addressing HIV and tuberculosis (TB) co-infection in the world of work;
- Promoting strategic partnerships at global, regional and national levels.
Strategic priorities of ILO/AIDS (2010-2015) |
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Programme activities
The Programme seeks to understand and respond to the effects of HIV/AIDS in the world of work and support action by its tripartite constituents through:
- Technical cooperation: projects and activities in over 70 countries;
- Research-based policy analysis and legal guidance on HIV/AIDS issues in the world of work;
- Information, communications and advocacy through a range of channels including publications and technical meetings at global, regional and national levels.