hiv work place policy biafra clinic
TRANSCRIPT
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HIV WORKPLACE POLICY BIAFRA MEDICAL CLINIC
14th November 2012
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CONTENTS
1. Abbreviations 3
2. Acknowledgement 4
3. Biafra Clinic’s mandate 5
4. Legal framework 5
5. Objectives/purposes 7
6. Workplace policy and guiding principles 8
7. Workplace health promotion 13
8. Monitoring & policy review 14
9. Functions of a focal person and external
mainstreaming 15
10. Way forward / Plan of action 16
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2. ABBREVIATIONS
ART Antiretroviral Therapy
BMWS Biafra Muslim Welfare Society
GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit, GmbH
M & E Monitoring and Evaluation
PMTCT Prevention of Mother to Child Transmis-‐sion
PLHIV People Living with HIV
S/GBV Sexual / Gender based violence
SUPKEM Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims
STIs Sexually Transmitted Infections
VCT/HTC Voluntary Counseling and Testing / HIV Testing and Counseling
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1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to appreciate SUPKEM and GIZ for their support in education, funds and professional help. We would like to thank Selina Orsi-‐Coutts, HIV & Gender Advisor, GIZ Health Sector Programme and Mr. Ali Ahmed HIV M & E Officer SUPKEM for the constant support in education and information about HIV policy programmes because the development of Biafra Medi-‐cal Clinic Workplace Policy would not have been possible without her supervision and helpful ideas. We also would like to thank staff and management of Biafra Medical Clinic and all Board Members of Biafra Muslim Welfare Society for their commitment for change in the clinic, in particular: Mr. Mohamed Shuguli, Chairman of Biafra Muslim Welfare Society, Mr. Juma Ally Boy, Director of Biafra Medical Clinic Mr. Athman Ibrahim, Human Resource Manager and Ms. Rukiya Noordin Imam, GBV Technical Advisor and Clinical Officer in chargeThe staff members at the time of development of the HIV Workplace Policy were as follows: Ms. Carolyne Mulwa, Clinical Officer , Ms. Amina Mohamed, Pharmacist, Ms. Cecilia Moturi, Lab. Techni-‐cian and Ms. Perpetual Maragia, HIV Coun-‐selor, Recep-‐tionist. All staff members participated in the prepara-‐tion meetings for the development of this HIV Work-‐place Policy.
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3. BIAFRA CLINIC’S MANDATE
Our mandate is to improve health indicators in our community through delivering reliable quality and in-‐tegrated medical care. Working through achieving this goal we saw the need of an HIV policy for our clinic.
HIV plays an important role in our day-‐to-‐day work because of the exposure to infection and also if already affected then it already affected the quality of work you are going to offer to Biafra Clinic’s clients.
Biafra Clinic staff offer counseling and medical treat-‐ment for survivors of gender based violence (GBV) since 2009. GBV survivors face a higher risk for HIV and STI infections therefore every GBV client needs also HIV counseling and testing, prevention and possi-‐bly medical treatment.
We extend our HIV services to the community as we are committed to give integrated health care thus working towards improving health indicators holistically.
HIV infection should not affect our ability to give qual-‐ity to our clients.
4. LEGAL FRAMEWORK
This policy shall be implemented within the frame-‐work of the Constitution of Kenya and other relevant legislation in place as well as propose as well as pro-‐posed legislation which includes the following:
The Constitution of the Republic of Kenya is the su-‐preme law of Kenya and all other laws must comply
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with it. The fundamental rights in the constitution provide every person with the right to equality and non-‐discrimination.
HIV and AIDS Prevention and Control Act 2006
rights.
Section 13: No person shall compel another to un-‐dergo an HIV test safe where a person is charged with an offence of a sexual nature under Chapter XV of the Penal Code;
Section 22: Prohibits the disclosure of an HIV test result of another person without his written consent;
Part VIII: It is an offence for any person to be discrim-‐inated against on the grounds of actual, perceived or suspected HIV status, in relation to employment ac-‐cess to education, credit, insurance, healthcare, travel,
The Employment Act Cap. 226: It sets out the minimum standards, applicable for conditions of employment relating to wages, leave, health and contracts of service including termination of the contract.
Under the Act, the employer shall provide proper healthcare for his employees during serious illness. The employer can only discharge this function if the
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employees notify the employer of the illness. The Act implies that there should be no discrimination on the grounds of HIV and AIDS status.
5. OBJECTIVES / PURPOSES
Why do Biafra Medical Clinic staffs need a HIV workplace policy?
Biafra Medical Clinic staff recognizes the seriousness of the HIV epidemic and its impact on the workplace. The Clinic supports national efforts to reduce the spread of infection and minimize the impact of the disease. The purpose of this policy is to ensure a consistent and eq-‐uitable approach to the prevention of HIV among em-‐ployees and their families, and to the management of the consequences of HIV and AIDS, including the care and support of employees living with HIV. The policy has been developed and will be implemented in con-‐sultation with employees at all levels. It is in compli-‐ance with existing laws regarding HIV.
The staff demanded this HIV workplace policy to pro-‐tect themselves, to protect people living with HIV and to protect human rights; it complies with national standards and gives staff a guideline.
Clinic staff would like to:
Ensure a uniform and fair approach to the compre-‐hensive management of HIV positive employees and employees living with AIDS
Reduce the risk of HIV infection through education,
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prevention and trainings
Create a supportive environment at the free of stig-‐ma and discrimination and space on sharing infor-‐mation, sympathizing with those affected by HIV or living positively with HIV
Empower the staff and management with aware-‐ness and knowledge to be able to make informed choices
Ensure health promotion, care and support to all employees and families (counseling and treatment)
Implement and share best practice in HIV interven-‐tion at the workplace
Protect the rights of those people affected by HIV
6. WORKPLACE POLICY AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Biafra Clinic staff does not discriminate or tolerate discrimination against employees or job applicants on any grounds, including HIV status. While Biafra Medical Clinic staff recognizes that there are circum-‐stances unique to HIV, this policy rests on the principle that HIV infection and AIDS should be treated like any other serious condition or illness that may affect em-‐ployees. It takes into account the fact that employees with HIV may live full and active lives for a number of years. The Clinic’s commitment to maintaining a safe and healthy work environment for all employees is based on the recognition that HIV is not transmitted by casual contact.
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Biafra Medical Clinic HIV workplace policy includes provisions in the following areas:
The protection of the rights of people living with HIV
Prevention through information, education and training
Care and support for workers and their families (counseling and treatment)
Gender Equity and non-‐discrimination: Every-‐body shall be counseled or treated without any dis-‐crimination or any differences made between man and women, no discrimination or stigmatization of infected or affected staff and their families.
All information regarding the em-‐ployee’s health status or sexual orientation will be
-‐tive issues that surround HIV infection and under-‐takes to handle matters in a discreet and private manner. Where an employee with HIV has revealed his or her status to management, the Clinic staff will
-‐ever in line with the Clinic philosophy on the virus to avoid stigma, the employee will be encouraged to be open about his or her HIV status.
Rights and responsibilities: Rights of employees who are HIV-‐positive. HIV-‐positive employees will be protected against discrimination, victimization
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or harassment. Normal company disciplinary and grievance procedures shall apply equally to all em-‐ployees, as will the provision of information and ed-‐ucation about HIV and AIDS.
Employment opportunities and termination of employment: Opportunities and promotion irre-‐spective of HIV status either affecting the clinic fra-‐ternity or community: no employee should suffer adverse consequences, whether dismissal or denial of appropriate alternative employment opportuni-‐ties, merely on the basis of his or her HIV status.
Continuation of employment relationship and social dialogue
Prevention of transmission of HIV through adher-‐ence to workshop hospital standards of operations and proper waste management.
Testing with counseling: HTC for all employees and support of People Living with HIV including gender issues, Biafra Medical Clinic rejects HIV testing as a prerequisite for recruitment, access to training or promotion. However, the company pro-‐
-‐tial testing.
Epidemiological testing: Testing programmes for epidemiological purposes will be subject to appro-‐priate consultation with recognized employee rep-‐
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resentatives and will be subject to independent and objective evaluation and scrutiny. The results of ep-‐idemiological studies will not be used as a basis for discriminating against any class of employee in the workplace. All testing will comply with accepted in-‐ternational standards on pre-‐and post-‐test counsel-‐
Giving back to your community through aware-‐ness creation: Appropriate awareness and edu-‐cation programmes will be conducted to inform employees about HIV infection and transmission which will enable them to protect themselves and others against an infection. Some of these will include the families of employees and the local community. Biafra Clinic staff recognizes the im-‐portance of involving employees and their repre-‐sentatives in the planning and implementation of awareness, education and counseling programmes, especially as peer educators and counselors. Prac-‐tical measures to support behaviour change and risk management will include the treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and TB, sterile needle and syringe exchange programmes and the distribution of male and female condoms. Training shall be arranged for key staff includ-‐
-‐cers; union representatives; trainers of train-‐ers (both male and female); peer educators;
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Reasonable time off will be given for participation in education and training.
Involvement of People Living with HIV in HIV in-‐terventions
Care and support: The promotion of employees’ well-‐being. Biafra Clinic will treat employees who are infected or affected by HIV with empathy and care. The Company will provide all reasonable assis-‐tance which may include counseling, time off, sick leave, family responsibility leave, and information regarding the virus and its effect.
Work performance and reasonable accommoda-‐tion: It is the policy of Biafra Clinic to respond to the changing health status of employees by making rea-‐sonable accommodation in the workplace for those infected with HIV. Employees may continue to work as long as they are able to perform their duties safely and in accordance with accepted performance standards. If an employee living with or affected by HIV is unable to perform his or her tasks adequately, the manager or supervisor must resolve the problem according to the clinic’s normal procedure on poor performance/ill health.
: Employees living with HIV will be treated no less favourably than staff with any other serious illness/condition in terms of statutory and clinic bene-‐
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other available services.
Healthcare: Biafra Clinic will help employees living
community (access ARTs), as well as counseling ser-‐vices, professional support and self-‐help groups if re-‐quired. Reasonable time off will be given for counsel-‐ing and treatment.
7. WORKPLACE HEALTH PROMOTION
i. Free medical checkups for clinic staffs and family annually for the tests available in the clinic labo-‐ratory.
If after checkup some illness might be discovered then the clinic will offer free consultation and treatment to the drugs available
ii. Promotion of stress management by offering free in-‐house counseling to the staff
iii. Health talks on healthy living
iv. A team of dedicated Biafra staff to take care of matters concerning staff health (HIV committee & HIV focal point, also a trusted peer educator could be mentioned)
v. Male and (if available) female Condom provision
vi. There will be clinic day out annually to relief burn out and also promote bonding
vii. Clinic management commits to improve the
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working environment both internally and exter-‐nally
viii. Development of relevant IEC material and distri-‐bution in clinic for staff and in community?
ix. Information material at your resource center
8. MONITORING & POLICY REVIEW
M &E: Report regularly on planned implemented and conducted activities and also impact evaluation.
-‐sible for HIV to coordinate and implement the HIV/AIDS policy and programme.
-‐ecutive board.
In order to plan and evaluate its HIV policy and pro-‐gramme effectively, Biafra Medical Clinic will under-‐take a survey to establish baseline data and regular risk and impact assessment studies.
The studies will include knowledge, attitudes and be-‐haviour/ practices. Studies will be carried out in con-‐sultation and with the consent of employees and their
-‐dentiality.
This policy, and related information on HIV and AIDS, will be communicated to all Biafra Medical Clinic em-‐ployees and the wider public using the full range of
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communication methods available to the clinic and its network of contacts.
This policy will be reviewed annually and revised as necessary in the light of changing conditions and the
9. FUNCTIONS OF A FOCAL PERSON AND EXTERNAL MAINSTREAMING
A focal person should have the following functions:
Responsibility for coordination of the imple-‐mentation of the HIV policy and activitiesDevelopment of a work planPresentation of the work plan to management
of implementationInvolvement of staff in the HIV workplace pro-‐gramme / Involvement of volunteers / peer educatorsRegularly monitoring through reports to man-‐agement on the performance of the planned activitiesAssignment for male and female condom provi-‐sionHTC (VCT) including information about STIs and PMTCT for staff, clients / People living with HIV
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External Mainstreaming and interaction with com-‐munity should happen through several recurrently campaigns and information days or trainings. Peer-‐to-‐peer education is crucial to spread information about HIV and AIDS in the community especially HIV preven-‐tion lectures including family planning for youth.
10. WAY FORWARD / PLAN OF ACTION
Biafra Clinic staff would like to work out a way for-‐ward. The following activities are planned:
Development of I.E.C. material for HIV
Provision of HTC services and later compressive care services in the clinic
Awareness campaigns in the community of Eas-‐tleigh
Senior management sensitization of the HIV pol-‐icy / launch
Participation in WORLD-‐AIDS-‐DAY on 1st of De-‐cember
Training of the staff in HIV management
