The COVID-19 pandemic has been adversely affecting over 37 million people living with HIV globally and around 640,000 in Indonesia. The implementation of HIV/AIDS prevention programme at the workplace has also faced greater challenges due to the economic impact of the pandemic to the companies.

During times of major challenge and crisis this, occupational safety and health (OSH) pogrammes play an crucial role in managing OSH and wellbeing risks as well as business continuity and sustainability. The integration of HIV/AIDS in OSH programmes, therefore, have become more important to tackle HIV/AIDS issues in a sustainable way through workplaces.

Michiko Miyamoto, Country Director of the ILO for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, stated that the integration of HIV/AIDS prevention programme into companies’ existing OSH programmes would accelerate the ending of HIV/AIDS epidemic in Indonesia. "This integration will help Indonesia to achieve targets that, by 2030, 90 percent of people living with HIV will know their HIV status, 90 percent of people who know their HIV-positive status will be accessing treatment and 90 percent of people on treatment will have suppressed viral loads,” said Michiko, kicking-off the series of webinars on HIV/AIDS and OSH, on 20 October.

ILO in collaboration with the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Health and the National OSH Council organize a Tuesday webinar on variety issues related to HIV/AIDS and OSH from 20 October to the World AIDS Day on 1 December.

Dr Siti Nadia Tarmizi, the Ministry of Health’s Director for Preventing Infectious Diseases, said that during the pandemic, it was crucial to ensure that adequate availability of ARV treatment for people living with HIV. “Through its provincial offices, the Ministry of Health has developed services dedicated to HIV/AIDS. We also ensure that there is no discrimination in the implementation of this service,” she said.

Meanwhile Muzakir, a Labour Inspector of the Ministry of Manpower, shared some programmes conducted by the Ministry of Manpower. The Manpower Ministry has strengthened its employment service to ensure workers’ safety when going back to work and companies’ sustainability. “Thus, we have developed and provided online OSH service that are accessible for all and the integration of HIV prevention programme at the enterprise level with the prevention of COVID-19 pandemic,” he stated.

Representing the Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo), dr Rima Melati reminded that enterprises should not only focus their OSH programme to the prevention of COVID-19, but also need to focus on other health issues such as HIV/AIDS. “With the COVID-19, we need to tackle double stigma and discrimination against people with COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS. Through effective integration of OSH and other health issues such as COVID-19 and HIV/AIDS, we can promote non-discriminatory working environment at the enterprise level,” she said.

The webinar marked the first out of eight Tuesday webinars that would cover a range of issues related OSH and HIV/AIDS from the perspectives of youth, women, enterprises, trade unions and other relevant stakeholders. These webinars aim to increase the awareness on HIV/AIDS prevention at workplace during the pandemic, encourage more involvement of companies and support the integration of HIV/AIDS into the government’s OSH National Strategy 2021-2025.