Aids strategies paying off
By, Metropolis, iafrica.com, February 7, 2006
The productivity of South Africa's mining sector has not been affected by the Aids pandemic to the extent forecast in some of the "doom and gloom" scenarios of a decade ago, the Chamber of Mines (CoM) said on Wednesday.
Briefing Parliament's select committee on economic and foreign affairs, CoM chief executive Mzolisi Diliza told members that while the disease had a huge impact on the industry, intervention strategies now meant up to 94 percent of workers being treated were returning to work.
"The 94 percent figure is very important because it shows that with intervention you are able to prolong the working life of mineworkers," he said.
Diliza said between 40 and 45 percent of workers in the industry who needed treatment for HIV were receiving it. The sector employs about 450 000 people, many from countries bordering South Africa.
According to his colleague, chamber executive Frans Barker, the HIV prevalence rate among the country's 170 000 gold miners — close to half of whom are foreign workers — is between 23 and 24 percent.
Speaking after the briefing, he said antiretroviral therapy programmes instituted by chamber members were proving effective.
"The impact (of Aids) on productivity in the past was big; we were losing skills. The success of therapy... has certainly been worthwhile," Barker told Sapa.
Contacted for further comment on the issue, CoM health adviser Dr Fazel Randera said the situation in the industry with regard to HIV and Aids was very different now compared to the late 90s, when ARV treatment first became available.
"There was a 'doom-and-gloom' time back then when people spoke of productivity being affected. It is very difficult now to say that is a trend that has been followed," he said.
Mining companies had embarked on "wellness programmes" for workers, including setting targets for convincing workers to know their HIV status.
One Mpumalanga coal mine was now in a position where 95 percent of its workers knew their HIV status. Among other mining companies, the figure was 75 percent.
As a result HIV infection was being detected — and managed — earlier.
"In the past, CD4 counts were 50 to 100. The programmes have changed this, and we're now catching it much earlier, with CD4 counts of between 150 and 200."
CD4 counts are used by doctors as an indicator to help them decide when to begin treatment of HIV-infected patients.
Randera said on certain mines "every person who should be on treatment, is on treatment".
Across the sector, sickness and absenteeism associated with the disease was down.
On HIV prevalence rates in the industry, he said the gold mines were worst hit, with between 23 and 24 percent of workers HIV positive. In the platinum sector the figure was between 20 and 24 percent, and the coal and diamond mines were "much lower".
Sapa
Source: http://iafrica.com/news/sa/621527.htm
The productivity of South Africa's mining sector has not been affected by the Aids pandemic to the extent forecast in some of the "doom and gloom" scenarios of a decade ago, the Chamber of Mines (CoM) said on Wednesday.
Briefing Parliament's select committee on economic and foreign affairs, CoM chief executive Mzolisi Diliza told members that while the disease had a huge impact on the industry, intervention strategies now meant up to 94 percent of workers being treated were returning to work.
"The 94 percent figure is very important because it shows that with intervention you are able to prolong the working life of mineworkers," he said.
Diliza said between 40 and 45 percent of workers in the industry who needed treatment for HIV were receiving it. The sector employs about 450 000 people, many from countries bordering South Africa.
According to his colleague, chamber executive Frans Barker, the HIV prevalence rate among the country's 170 000 gold miners — close to half of whom are foreign workers — is between 23 and 24 percent.
Speaking after the briefing, he said antiretroviral therapy programmes instituted by chamber members were proving effective.
"The impact (of Aids) on productivity in the past was big; we were losing skills. The success of therapy... has certainly been worthwhile," Barker told Sapa.
Contacted for further comment on the issue, CoM health adviser Dr Fazel Randera said the situation in the industry with regard to HIV and Aids was very different now compared to the late 90s, when ARV treatment first became available.
"There was a 'doom-and-gloom' time back then when people spoke of productivity being affected. It is very difficult now to say that is a trend that has been followed," he said.
Mining companies had embarked on "wellness programmes" for workers, including setting targets for convincing workers to know their HIV status.
One Mpumalanga coal mine was now in a position where 95 percent of its workers knew their HIV status. Among other mining companies, the figure was 75 percent.
As a result HIV infection was being detected — and managed — earlier.
"In the past, CD4 counts were 50 to 100. The programmes have changed this, and we're now catching it much earlier, with CD4 counts of between 150 and 200."
CD4 counts are used by doctors as an indicator to help them decide when to begin treatment of HIV-infected patients.
Randera said on certain mines "every person who should be on treatment, is on treatment".
Across the sector, sickness and absenteeism associated with the disease was down.
On HIV prevalence rates in the industry, he said the gold mines were worst hit, with between 23 and 24 percent of workers HIV positive. In the platinum sector the figure was between 20 and 24 percent, and the coal and diamond mines were "much lower".
Sapa
Source: http://iafrica.com/news/sa/621527.htm
posted by AIDS-Care-Watch at 10:00 am
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