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1992.12.01 :  AIDS Workplace Education

Contact: CDC Press Office (404) 639-3286
December 1, 1992
                  
       Atlanta, Ga. -- Business Responds to AIDS, a workplace
education program on AIDS, was launched today by the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, business and labor leaders and
public health officials.
       The new program was announced at CDC through a national
teleconference that was viewed live today at hundreds of workplace
sites across the United States.
       HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., said, "Our goal is to
prevent new infections of HIV, the AIDS virus, among employees,
families and the communities in which they live."  He said it is
particularly appropriate to announce the program on National AIDS
Awareness Day, which has as its theme, "AIDS, A Community
Commitment." 
       The Business Responds to AIDS program offers resources to
help all workplaces, large and small, meet the challenges of HIV
and AIDS on the job and in the community at large.  The CDC program
was developed in consultation with experts from business, labor,
health, government and AIDS service organizations.
       "This program will provide frank, direct information about
the risks of AIDS, and how to reduce those risks," said HHS
Assistant Secretary for Health James Mason, M.D., head of the
Public Health Service.  "The information is designed to encourage
and assist workplace leadership related to AIDS and HIV infection,
including prevention, education, workplace policies, volunteerism
and community support."
       CDC Director William Roper, M.D., said,  "Just as it is
appropriate to reach adolescents and young people in the classroom,
it is every bit as appropriate to reach adults in the workplace."
       Approximately one million Americans are infected with HIV,
the second leading cause of death for men ages 25-44 and the sixth
leading cause of death among women ages 25-44.  Americans in this
age group make up more than 50 percent of the nation's workforce. 
Some 76 percent of all AIDS cases are in this same age group.
       Lee C. Smith, former president of Levi Strauss International
and a supporter of Business Responds to AIDS, said, "Businesses
need to play a leadership role in helping to provide HIV prevention
information to employees, their families and the community.  It's
good for the country, and it's good for business."
       James Curran, M.D., head of AIDS activities for the CDC,
introduced the components of the program, which includes a
centralized resource service at the CDC National AIDS
Clearinghouse.  This service provides businesses and labor with
easy access to information and materials for developing HIV
workplace programs.  The service is accessed by calling the CDC
Business Responds to AIDS  Resource Service toll-free at 1-800-458-
5231.
       CDC has developed a manager's kit and a labor leader's kit
which provide step-by-step guidance through the process of
planning, developing and implementing a workplace HIV/AIDS
education program.  

     Available at nominal cost from the resource service, the
manager's kit addresses policy development, manager-supervisor
training, employee education, education for employees' families,
corporate involvement in the community and volunteerism.  The labor
leader's kit addresses similar issues for stewards, labor educators
and workers.
       The CDC Business Responds to AIDS program was developed in
conjunction with CDC's National Business and Labor Partners group,
which assists in promoting and implementing this comprehensive
workplace program.  
       CDC is an agency of the U.S. Public Health Service within
the Department of Health and Human Services.


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