Historically, mining communities have been constituted majorly by males. It was not until recently that we saw a few women blusters coming through the system.

The male miners traditionally had been uprooted from a supportive social structure to a somewhat isolating environment. Their work schedule would entail long hour shifts underground, and then coming home to a single-gendered compound, which could be depressing.

Risky business

The social lives of the miners often would be characterised by boredom, no family support, and loneliness – thereby leading to vulnerabilities and risky behaviour such as alcohol and drug use.

Research has shown that in mining communities, these miners are normally young and sexually active, and multiple sex partners is a norm – they often engage in unprotected sex with sex workers. A result hereof has been high prevalence of HIV infections in the mining communities, posing a threat to the economy.

The World Bank figures 2011 reflect that while the mining sector is key to South Africa’s economy, 20% of coal miners and 30% of gold miners are HIV-positive, impacting on mining operations.

Implications could mean:

• The workforce gets sick often;

• Absenteeism increases;

• There is high staff turnover;

• Productivity lowers; and

• Mine sites could be hubs for the spread of disease.

This could be a challenge to manage a company, says the World Bank, when a third of the workforce could be dying in five years.

Business as part of the solution

Recognising that HIV/Aids was affecting young employable people, stakeholders (government, civil society and business) converged efforts to deal with the virus.

A number of mining companies have recognised and acted on the invitation to participate in the drafting of the National Strategic Plan (NSP) on HIV, Aids & TB (2007–2011), which was overseen by the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC). SANAC was instrumental in spearheading an HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign (HCT) that aimed to test 15 million people by June 2011.

Mining companies played a significant role in encouraging employees to know their status, but also in providing post-HCT care.

Minister of Health Dr Aaron Motsoaledi said in one of his addresses that during the HCT campaign, billions of condoms were distributed even in remote areas. It was the companies, including mining firms, that ensured distribution to their employees as well as surrounding communities – even going to the extent of dispatching mobile treatment units into the bushes where sex workers operated.

With these being recent interventions, by the time the government had initiated NSP, major mining companies already had started seeing the impact of HIV on their business and the economy as a whole. Collectively or individually, they had started workplace programmes that would prevent and manage illness, and increase the general well-being and health of their workforce.

The Global Business Coalition Health (GBCHealth) has more than 200 member companies, all of which are committed to being part of the solution to HIV/Aids.

For instance, a 2007 report indicates that Anglo American, a GBCHealth member, had realised some 21 years ago that there was a problem – when four of its 18 500 South African employees tested positive. Together with its subsidiary AngloGold, the mining company – as early as 2002 – announced it would offer antiretroviral therapy (ART) to HIV-positive employees among its joint 40 000 workforce, 30%-40% of whom already had HIV. It started out with three miners who consented to receiving two and half weeks of counselling.

Aurum Health Research, a subsidiary of AngloGold Health Service (AHS), finalised clinical guidelines; established clinical and laboratory support consortium; and developed training and an evaluation protocol. It put through training 40 AHS wellness doctors, 10 nurses and 20 lay counsellors. Then it placed 200 employees (who had consented) on an ART pilot. This was then followed by a larger scale rollout.

Another mining company that has a comprehensive health and wellness programme is diamond-ming De Beers, another GBCHealth member, which recognised that sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 67% of global HIV infections, and that this region was home to its workforce, including South Africa. Here, HIV is a real threat – even to the continuity of its business.

De Beers’s programme is holistic in its approach – in and beyond the workplace – and it aims to identify possible causes, to prevent and manage ill-health, while promoting health and well-being of the workforce, their families and communities.

It boasts 100% eligibility of employees, spouses or life partners for free ARV. It is committed to continuing the provision of ART upon retirement, should the former employee have no access to a public health facility.

Another unique story is that of Debswana, operating in the Orapa village of Botswana. It is a GBCHealth member whose HIV/Aids programme dates as far back as the late 1980s when the first Aids cases were seen in Jwaneng and Orapa hospitals, during which time Debswana concentrated on an awareness drive through education.

Now, its programme has evolved to a point where every employee, spouse and three children younger than 21 years receive a full subsidy for ART, prophylactic and opportunistic infections treatment and monitoring.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, and a GBCHealth member, said its return on investing a dollar in the HIV programme is fourfold. Absenteeism decreases and therefore sustains productivity.

The copper, iron, gold and coal mining company was responsive to the risk as it impacted the organisation. Reuters quoted BHP Billiton’s regional health adviser for southern Africa, Andre van der Berg, as saying: “There is an overwhelming business case.”

Other mining houses such as Gold Fields found innovative ways to involve staff to encourage them around issues of their health and well-being. It gave material incentives such as cellphones, television sets, cash and even a bakkie to miners who volunteered to test for HIV/Aids.

Assmang Ltd, with mining operations in iron ore and manganese in the Northern Cape Province, in 2003 had 450 employees, more than 450 contractors at the Beeshoek mine; and 1 200 employees and around 400 contractors at its Black Rock mine.

It is a good example of monitoring and evaluation of an HIV and health programme. This includes visiting persons who have disclosed their HIV status, but not publicly offering them comfort; to ensuring peer education happens not only among employees but also among contractors.

There are many other mining companies doing commendable work in their communities. Richards Bay Minerals has formed partnerships with the community to address social determinants that could lead to risky behaviour, should they be ignored. In providing education, health services and job creation projects, it believes that affording communities a level of self-sufficiency indirectly addresses the causative factors of the HIV/Aids epidemic in the community.

At an inaugural HIV/Aids Mining Summit in 2003, a declaration of intent was compiled: among other things, the group with representation from government, business and labour advocated the importance of reviewing progress in the fight against HIV/Aids, sharing experiences and strengthening partnerships between government, business, labour
and communities.

The HCT programme is a good example of collective efforts that yielded results. The Chamber of Mining fact sheet indicates that with partnerships and collaborative efforts, industry has been able to manage the impact of HIV/Aids – enabling it to remain globally competitive for the benefit of employees and their families, shareholders and the country.

GBCHealth