ILO in collaboration with UNAIDS join in the private sector led one dollar initiative promoting public good and the need to improve the quality of life

The launch of the code-named “One Dollar Initiative” for the private sector that took place at the Serena Hotel in Kampala.

“We shall not end HIV and AIDS through charity but through investment, a charity walk cannot deliver services to our people”, was the key message delivered by Mr. Michele Sidibe, the Executive Director of the Joint United Nations programme on HIV&AIDS (UNAIDS).

The Executive Director, was accompanied by the outgoing UNAIDS Country Director Ms. Amakobe Sande and the incoming one Ms. Karusa Kiragu. The one dollar initiative is led by the private sector in joint collaboration with ILO and UNAIDS. It builds on the philosophy of promoting public good and the need to improve the quality of life of people. The one dollar initiative (ODI) is an innovative financing mechanism to supplement existing resources for the HIV and AIDS response in Uganda, as one of the strategies towards attaining SDG 3 on ending HIV and AIDS by 2030.

158 invited guests from the wider private sector fraternity attended the launch of the ODI at a breakfast meeting held at the Serena Hotel. The guests comprised of CEOs of business organizations and associations among which included; Private Sector Foundation of Uganda, Tropical Heat, PACE Uganda, East African Breweries, Real Foundation, Crown Beverages, Case Medical Centre, Pearl Engineering, UCC, Jubilee Insurance, Bank of Africa, HopeNet, National Insurance Corporation, Uganda Baati, National Social Security Fund, Statewide Insurance Company, Crest Foam, Uganda Tea Association, CIPLA Quality Chemicals, Mas Group, RHU, NBS TV, Monitor Publications, Eskom, to mention but a few.

The one dollar initiative comes as a result of protracted meetings that the ILO organized for the private sector associations and affiliated members, initially to scale up HIV&AIDS and the world of work responses through Corporate Social Responsibility approaches. The meetings however noted that the CRS approaches were not sufficient to sustainably address the enormous problem of HIV&AIDS in the community. In most cases, they were limited to provision of scholastic materials, household items, mosquitoe nets, occasional HIV testing services to mainly the orphans, care givers, communities and workers respectively. In addition, such activities promoted the company’s corporate image especially in associating with the poor and vulnerable but could not has lasting benefits to the beneficiaries. It was therefore time for the private sector to engage meaningfully and step up the private sector HIV&AIDS response beyond the conventional CRS approaches, and thus the one dollar initiative.

In his launch address, Mr. Michele Sidibe called for the need to learn from business models of efficiency in doing business and the need for maximum return on investment. Any dollar invested must have returns on investment and multiplication factors to bring in more and more dollars. He added that this could only be achieved by working with the private sector innovation traits, and cited CIPLA Quality Chemicals as an example. We could not have managed to give treatment to millions of people but working with the private sector led to a change in protocols of treatment and other approaches such as inventing generics which has made treatments more affordable. “Today we are having 1 pill regimen which has been possible because of the innovation of the private sector and we look forward to have a treatment regimen of one to two injections per month”. The perception of most people about the private sector was from the angle of dollars, dollars, and dollars; which is important but a wrong approach, because the added value of the private sector is more important than the dollars we demand for. Mr. Michelle Sidibe was impressed that ODI was also focusing on sustainability of the gains made, because just like Uganda, most countries are having over 90% people on treatment whose resources come mainly from The Global Fund and PEPFAR. He mentioned that if those resources were halted, then many people would not be able to access treatment.

The private sector, he said, can also help us to transform the way we deliver services, help us reach people with advocacy and promotional messages - such as the message of knowing one’s HIV status, transfer of competences, helping in the manufacturing of drugs and many other aspects where they can contribute. He observed that the one dollar initiative will be borrowed by the rest of the world because it was a great initiative.

Overall, the ODI will not only seek for financial assistance but also presents a new way of work, especially in ensuring that the momentum of the private sector efforts is kept and in the added value it will bring in attaining SDG 3 on “ending AIDS by 2030”.