Living with HIV poses various challenges. But employers can play a crucial role in supporting their employees through effective health policies. Project M.O.M. Sunshine in Cameroon aims to support companies in their efforts. The Project works to convince companies to provide good health policies. Policies that include medical, psychological and nutritional support to employees living with HIV/AIDS. Their main tactic is to present the company with a plan for a practical HIV policy. A plan that reduces the cost of the treatment as well as benefits the company’s public image. In particular, the Project negotiates with insurance companies dependent on company contracts to improve their insurance policies. This creates more affordable health insurance plans for the company. This benefits workers with HIV while making such support more accessible for employers.

Collaborative Partnerships: Reducing Treatment Costs

Project founder Marie Mendene saw the need for such a tactic. The management at her company did not have an official policy of providing treatment for workers who were HIV positive. They feared it would be too expensive. Mendene, an employee herself living with HIV. She was also a company representative and founder of the project. She was in a unique position to advocate for treatment.

The newly created project proposed a plan to the management to reduce the cost of the treatment by finding partners. Partners, either public or private (other companies), with which to pool their resources together and co-finance the cost. Partners included the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and pharmaceutical producers. They proposed working with management to reduce the cost in this way so as to make it acceptable to the company. As a further incentive to the management, they publicized the company’s good practice. They did this at international conferences in Europe and West Africa. They also promoted it with organizations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres and UNAIDS. Both collaborated with the project.

Key Improvements in Employee Benefits and Coverage

With privatization, a U.S. multinational company bought it. Mendene told the new management that the previous employers had been providing treatment to HIV positive workers. She asked the company what it planned to do in this respect. At the company’s request, the project set up an HIV/AIDS task force. The task force helped the company to improve its policy. They expanded access to insurance from executives only, to coverage for all 4800 employees and their families. Project M.O.M. Sunshine also succeeded in convincing management to make official statements about:

• the implication of this on the struggle against HIV/AIDS
• improving the purchasing system for medication at an insurance company and the public hospital, and
• ensuring greater confidentiality for patients.

Employees may continue to have misconceptions about the disease. But the tactic also helped to break the silence around HIV/AIDS for many of the employees. This tactic was successfully implemented in this case. Other businesses, managerial union leaders and insurance companies have shown interest in adapting the approach.