In a move to protect the safety and health of workers involved in the global fight against HIV/AIDS, experts brought together by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have agreed to joint guidelines designed to help ensure a functioning and healthy medical workforce.

The new joint guidelines were developed during a three-day tripartite meeting 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 joint 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.

The critical issues of avoiding discrimination and stigma - by health workers towards other health workers and towards patients - are given particular emphasis in the joint guidelines, as are the special needs and concerns of women working in the sector.

Key principles of the joint guidelines are the following:

• Prevention and containment of transmission risks: measures should be taken for hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control as well as provisions for post-exposure management.
• Social dialogue, which includes all types of negotiation, consultation and information sharing among governments, employers and workers, should be a key mechanism for the introduction of HIV/AIDS polices and programmes that build a safer and healthier working environment.
• Information, education and training should be offered to sensitize the healthcare workplace to issues related to HIV/AIDS and the rights and needs of patients as well as workers. Mandatory HIV screening, for the purpose of exclusion from employment, should not be required and employment of workers living with HIV/AIDS should continue while they are medically fit.
• Gender focus: as the health services sector is a major employer of women, special emphasis should be placed on the particular challenges faced by them in the health care working environment. Programmes, education, and training initiatives should ensure both men and women understand their rights within the workplace and outside it.

The joint guidelines will be presented to the 293rd session of the ILO Governing Body in June 2005 for approval.

For further information you may visit the pages of the ILO Sectoral Activities Department on this subject.