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OPA News Release: [12/20/2003]
Contact Name: Mike
Biddle or Lisa Gates
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao helps launch
DOL-funded HIV/AIDS Workplace Initiatives Project in Ghana
ACCRA, GHANA—U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today
helped launch the Ghana HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Project, which is part of
a $9.5 million DOL grant for the prevention of HIV/AIDS at the workplace. The
Secretary spoke at the closing session of the two-day workshop launching the
project. The launch was part of Secretary Chao’s four-day visit to Africa
to highlight continuing efforts to end the worst forms of child labor including
using children as soldiers and trafficking in children and to promote programs
in the workplace to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
“President George W. Bush has demonstrated his commitment to fight
the pandemic of HIV/AIDS by devoting an unprecedented amount of resources
totaling $15 billion,” said Secretary Chao. “Africa is one of the
worst hit areas of the pandemic and I am in Ghana to announce a tranche of this
grant to launch the HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Project. Working together, I
know we can help educate workers at the workplace to prevent the spread of
HIV/AIDS.”
The Ghana HIV/AIDS Workplace Education Project is part of a $9.5 million
grant awarded by the Department of Labor to the International Labor
Organization (ILO) to develop a program for HIV/AIDS prevention education and
workplace policy. The projects goal is the prevention of HIV/AIDS in the
workplace through the enhancement of workplace protection and thus the
reduction of its devastating impact on people, communities and countries.
Administered by the ILO, the three-year program will support national
authorities in implementing a workforce HIV/AIDS prevention and education
program and policies to address discrimination against those infected with the
disease.
Under the leadership of President George W. Bush, the United States has
launched an unprecedented emergency relief effort to fight the global HIV/AIDS
pandemic. President Bush has committed $15 billion over the next five years to
help turn the tide against HIV in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the
Caribbean. The goals of the initiative are to prevent 7 million new infections;
treat 2 million HIV-infected people; and care for 10 million HIV-infected
individuals and AIDS orphans. Since 2001, the Labor Department’s HIV/AIDS
Workplace Initiative has received $29 million, which now supports 21 projects
in 25 countries to reduce HIV/AIDS in Africa and around the world.
Today, 42 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Some experts estimate
that in Africa’s hardest hit countries, as many as 1 in 5 working-age
adults are infected with HIV. It is one of the greatest social, labor and
economic challenges of our time and has tragically taken the lives of more than
20 million people. AIDS has had a devastating effect on economic development
and has deprived many workers of the most productive years of their lives,
forcing many children to work to support their families.
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