MOL & ILO end massive awareness on revised HIV and AIDS workplace policy in Liberia

The Ministry of Labour (MOL), in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) Liberia office, has conducted a second round of massive dissemination and awareness-raising campaigns on the newly revised HIV and AIDS Workplace Policy for Liberia.

Speaking over the weekend in Ganta City,  Nimba County, ILO Coordinator for  Grand Cape Mount County Mr. Salif Haji Massalay said the campaign is the second in a series of awareness campaigns that began in 2022.

Masallay said it followed the adoption of the newly revised HIV and AIDS Workplace Policy for Liberia. 

He said the Policy primarily covers all workers and employers without distinctions and emphasized that the successful implementation of the Policy requires the concerted efforts of both employers and workers in the workplace. 

The development of the Policy, Mr. Massalay said, is rooted in the ILO’s four fundamental mandates which seek to protect workers.

He explained that no employer, whatever the condition, should discriminate against any employee or attempt to terminate an employee’s service at the workplace because of his or her HIV status. 

He emphasized that employers should ensure a conducive and enabling environment for all employees irrespective of their health status.

Mr. Massalay noted that appropriate measures should be instituted to ensure that the workplace is conducive and normal for every employee. 

Concluding, Mr. Massalay indicated that the goal of the policy is to give guidance to government, employers, and workers on how to go about changing behavior in the workplace.

He thanked the Ministry of Labour through its Division of HIV and AIDS, the National AIDS Commission and all local and international partners for their many support during development of the Policy.

The newly revised HIV and AIDS Workplace Policy embodies five main objectives geared towards non-discrimination of workers infected and affected with HIV and AIDS and related opportunistic infections.

These objectives can best be achieved through continual awareness and capacity building.

Accordingly, the awareness campaign targeted and covered human resource managers and other workers of public and private organizations as well as health practitioners in the concession prone counties of Nimba and Grand Cape Mount.

The campaign brought together school administrators, teachers and their students on the prevention, treatment, care and non-discrimination of the people living with HIV and AIDS.  

A total of 400 workers, managers, teachers and students participated in the awareness campaign.

At the close of the campaign, some 12,800 pieces of condoms and 300 copies of the Policy were distributed.

The intervention was undertaken within the framework of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS.–Press release