Occupational Health Policies in HIV/Aids Management Programmes within Organizations - Essay Example

At the moment, there is no cure for the chronic disease of AIDS; and given the scale and magnitude of the disastrous effect of the disease, it is noble to introduce strategies that can go a long way in slowing the effects as well as the transmission of the disease. It has come to the realization that the social impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic has negative effects especially in the workplace where hundreds of productive employees succumb to the deadly disease every day in different places.
Whilst many employees are guided by the traditional legal approach to workplace health and safety which centers on the understanding of employers’ common law of duty care according to which, the employer often has duty care to the safety of the employee, during the contemporary period.
The regulation of health and safety is a complex and difficult subject to understand since there is no single, universally agreed policy that compels all the companies to adhere to a specific framework in their operations.
There are many people who still believe that the AIDS epidemic is a myth and there is unusual ignorance, stigma, and discrimination surrounding the disease. This negative attitude is not only painful to the infected person but it stretches to the family, community as well as employer who will lose a useful employee. Against this background, there is growing consensus that this disease must be treated with respect just like any other life-threatening disease. However, for the sake of economic development, the employer should have a special obligation to suggest and implement appropriate policies at workplaces as a way of trying to mitigate the impacts of this deadly disease.
There is a wide variety of responses available for business as far as the management of HIV/AIDS is concerned. However, much still needs to be done to integrate Occupational Health and Safety. It is agreed that HIV/AIDS is a workplace issue, much has yet to be said about how this is implemented and monitored, as these are often neglected.