BY EBELE ONUORAH
Forty-five months after FHI360, USAID/ Nigeria SmartWork Programme was set up, it had significant influence in enabling sustainable workplace HIV & AIDS programming and  policies  in the country.

The Country Director, Dr Abiodun Adetoro disclosed recently during the programme end-of-dissemmination activity in Lagos that ensuring  the expansion of access to comprehensive high-quality prevention, care and support services to the working population by increasing local indigenous groups’ capacity to implement services in Nigeria was the major goal the SMARTWork Programme set out to achieve three and a half years ago.

Adetoro wh observed that they have been able to build a local capacity that will be able to respond to HIV &AIDS issues in the workplace environment, said through this workplace programme and in partnership with  organised labour, employers and government, a substantial number of the Nigerian workforce and their families were reached with HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support services.

“A vital aspect of this programme was that the implementation was conducted by Nigerian entities and that small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) are part of the target groups” he stated.

In partnership with a private business coalition and 8 labour unions, workers were reached with HIV/AIDS workplace anti-stigma and discrimination trainings. abstinence, be faithful, condom sensitisation programmes and HCT services were also delivered in 21 states across the six geo-political zones of the country.

Under the programme. an  HIV&AIDS implementation committee was set up in each union to drive the process and sustainability of the HIV/AIDS intervention.

Drawing attention to the need for workplace HIV & AIDS programming and policy, Adetoro said  “the impact of HIV & AIDS in the workplace in several countries have made it imperative that every organisation should address the issue of HIV & AIDS directly instead of waiting for the effects of other people’s activities out there and this can only be achieved by the synergy of government, management and labour unions”

The SMARTWork Program which started as a 5-year global workplace for HIV/AIDS intervention with the support of the US Department of labour (USDOL) in 2001 covered six countries.