Atlas Copco workers educated on HIV/AIDS

 Story: Fauziatu Adam

The Managing Director of Atlas Copco Ghana, Mr   George Apostopoulos, has called for collective measures to fight the menace of HIV/AIDS in the country.
He added that HIV/AIDS is very high in Africa and it needed a strong and united people to be able to reduce the menace in Ghana and Africa as a whole.
Mr Apostopoulos said this at the launch of a workplace HIV/AIDS policy with the aim of promoting the health needs of the staff the company.
He added that HIV/AIDS was a sensitive issue in the world  and, therefore “ very necessary as a company to initiate this move.
“ We are very committed to making sure that our workers live and work in a healthy environment to make productivity effective”  he added.
He explained that the aim of this policy was to limit the spread of HIV/AIDs amongst workers and support employees that are infected thereby creating a conducive environment for them.
The Director of Ghana Business Coalition (GBC) Against HIV/AIDS,  urged other businesses especially medium and small enterprises to approach the coalition for technical assistance to make their workplace safe and healthy for their workers adding that “ only 40 companies have responded to their call since 2003”.
An Executive Council member of GBC Against HIV/AIDS, Mr Alex Bamfo, said the coalition has initiated steps to broaden its scope to include malaria in its promotion programme because of the alarming rate of the disease in the country.
“ Twenty-two percent of death in the country currentlyis as result of malaria which  also leads to bigger loss of productivity in the country,” he stressed.