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About
Workplace HIV Policy
The townships of Port Elizabeth have an HIV prevalence of 32%. Our staff is not exempt — any attempt to address the health crises in our communities must begin with us. Ubuntu believes we must complement skill development with social and institutional processes to create an enabling environment to confront personal and family HIV/AIDS status openly and proactively. We must reach a level at which our entire staff has the requisite understanding of the individual and community behaviour change processes that will determine the success of our HIV/AIDS interventions. We have therefore placed the health and well being of our staff at the centre of our strategy as an organisation. To ensure the sustainability of our programmes and our organisation, we must develop a workplace culture that allows our staff to confront HIV/AIDS in their own lives in a supportive environment.
We place the health and well-being of our staff at the centre of our strategy as an organisation. With a 32% HIV prevalence in our area, our staff is as greatly affected by HIV/AIDS as the communities we serve. In July 2005, Ubuntu officially launched its Wellness Programme, a workplace HIV/AIDS programme and policy with full health benefits for all staff and dependents, including access to HIV counselling, testing, and ARV therapy. Ubuntu complements skill development for our staff with a workplace culture that enables us to confront personal and family HIV/AIDS status openly and proactively. Other Wellness components consist of regular sessions with a psychologist to avoid staff burn-out (for counsellors coping with highly stressful child abuse cases), a running club, restorative Iyengar yoga, and other self-care activities. Communication, training, workshops, and counselling are offered on a regular basis to overcome the fear and stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. Our Wellness Programme encourages all staff to learn their status and promotes confidentiality and care-seeking behaviour in the workplace.
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