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Social protection:
HIV & AIDS and health services
 The health services sector has the unique feature of having a population of workers who, in addition to providing care to patients suffering from HIV/AIDS, are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS because of their professional responsibilities. They also face discrimination should they become infected. At the same time, a larger, well-trained health services population is needed to address the different layers of HIV/AIDS and to provide help for those infected. A key impediment to the success of the antiretroviral programme in Africa is the shortage of health workers available to administer drugs to patients. Clear and coherent policies should be developed that address the prevention of HIV/AIDS specifically among health-care providers; the management and mitigation of the impact of the illness in the health services sector; and the reduction of discrimination and stigma faced by HIV/AIDS-positive health-service workers.
 Based on the collection of information, best practices and a collaborative effort of both the ILO and WHO, the Joint ILO/WHO guidelines on health services and HIV/AIDS (pdf, 411k) were developed during a three-day tripartite meeting (2005) involving experts in the field of HIV/AIDS and health care and representing workers, employers and governments. They provide wide-ranging and practical approaches to protection, training, screening, treatment, confidentiality, prevention, the minimizing of occupational risk and the care and support of health care workers. The guidelines also address the essential role of social dialogue among governments, employers and workers in meeting the challenges posed by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the sector. Given that the health sector is a major employer of women, in some cases up to 80 per cent of all workers, the guidelines address the special concerns of women workers as well.
The joint guidelines - also available in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Chinese, French, Latvian, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Thai and Vietnamese - are disseminated by the ILO and the WHO, with social dialogue activities and training to encourage their implementation.
Useful links/resources
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