Resource Library

HIV/AIDS and the Private Sector - A Literature Review

This paper presents a review of the literature on HIV/AIDS and the private sector. It encompasses the impact of HIV/AIDS on businesses and the business response to AIDS. The literature on both subjects is limited and often dated, and extensive further research is clearly required if a robust database is to be drawn up, but the patterns that emerge from the little research that has been done are nevertheless suggestive. HIV/AIDS has clear, though so far small, effects on a company's workforce and its customer base. The literature suggests that skilled workers are most likely to contract the virus, and that these are extremely difficult to replace. Customers, suppliers and investors in a company are also likely to be affected by HIV/AIDS, and this effect is expected to increase as the virus spreads. The impact of intervention in HIV/AIDS on brands and reputations has received very little attention in the literature, but comparisons with business interventions in other "ethical" fields are instructive. Having weighed up the evidence, the paper then goes on to look at the reasons for the relative lack of involvement. We look at the 'public good' issue whereby shareholders in a company will be reluctant to get involved in an issue where the benefits accrue first to others, and suggest that greater cooperation between businesses is essential if this hurdle is to be overcome. We also take into account previous unsuccessful business ventures into the public sphere and assess the impact these have had on companies' willingness to intervene in HIV/AIDS. Public/private relationships have often been cool, and the paper shows how both parties' attitudes have to change if cooperation on AIDS is to be fruitful. We go on to look at how some private sector firms have successfully addressed this problem in other areas. Finally, the potential of private sector intervention is addressed, using a series of case studies from the literature to demonstrate good practice in the field. The paper concludes by offering some suggestions for going forward. We call for more research on the subject and also for at least some business involvement based on the patterns of evidence so far and on companies' own research.