Report

Walking the Talk in the Workplace Strengthening and Scaling Up Sustainable Internal HIV and AIDS Responses for CSO Workplaces in Uganda

There is a necessity to bridge the gaps in knowledge on stigma awareness between managers and their staff. Managers should endeavour to discuss issues of HIV and AIDS with their staff on a regular basis in order to get such feedback. This can be achieved by increasing stigma awareness and management sessions at the workplace and creation of useful linkages with ASOs. They need to pay particular attention to the gendered stigma within organizations. Studies indicated that female staff and the elderly seemed to be more stigmatized on the basis of their HIV status as compared to men. Here incorporation of Gender analysis during organizational self assessments, HIV and AIDs Internal and trainings should be emphasized, highlighting the needs of female staff and their risks and vulnerabilities to HIV infection. Although there was no question for analyzing stigma in the context of persons with disabilities (PWDS), during the FGDs it was realized that PWDs living with HIV and AIDS highly stigmatized and vulnerable. This therefore calls for awareness sessions on the rights of PWDs in context of managing HIV and AIDS in the workplace. ACORD and participating CSOs need to create linkages and plans for practical involvement of PWDs in addressing HIV and AIDS related issues at the work.