Based on anonymous prevalence surveys, antenatal data and estimates based on comparable populations, 25%-30% of AngloGold's 38 800-strong SA workforce is HIV- positive.
The group has released remarkably frank figures on the cost of battling the pandemic. This year the budget for a new HIV/Aids intervention programme is R7,4m. Last month an antiretroviral treatment programme for infected workers was launched at a cost of R2 440/month per worker. Patient intake will be increased to more than 800 by the end of next year.
Actuarial studies estimate that by 2009 HIV/Aids will cost between 8% and 17% of AngloGold's payroll.
The R7,4m workplace programme includes:
- Awareness campaigns, costing R200 000;
- Training of employees and peer educators, costing R1,3m;
- The treatment of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), costing R870 000;
- A wellness budget of R4,4m; and
- Home-based care, at a cost of R630 000.
In addition, this year AngloGold contributed R820 000 to HIV-related community partnerships. And the chairman's fund has budgeted R1,5m for HIV/Aids initiatives not run by the company.
"Projected over the next decade, the cost of the Aids programme we've been running over the past three years is estimated at US$4/oz-$6/oz of gold mined," says AngloGold HIV/Aids manager Dr Petra Kruger. "In fact, the cost will be even lower as the programme is refined.
"Had we chosen to do nothing, the cost to the company in terms of lost skills and so on would have been closer to $9/oz. So it's not only the right thing to do; it also makes economic sense."
AngloGold is a big player in an industry-wide HIV-prevention programme, which gives sex workers a broad spectrum antibiotic every month to wipe out STIs. In the Carletonville area alone, the Mothusimpilo Project targets 4 000 female sex workers aged between 16 and 60.
The project provides the woman with condoms, peer and motivational education and the antibiotic. "The project has shown fantastic results in terms of a drop-off in STIs, not only among the women but among the mine workers as well," says Kruger.
Local mines contribute a per capita fee based on the number of mineworkers they employ. In Carletonville, which has Gold Fields, AngloGold, Harmony and Durban Roodepoort Deep, AngloGold's share of the cost is R5/worker per month.
AngloGold is participating in an industry initiative through Teba, the Chamber of Mines' recruitment agency, to provide home-based care in the rural areas.
"Teba was taking terminally ill miners back home to die, dumping them at their homes," says Kruger. "They were receiving a lot of flak in the rural areas, which was unfair. So they approached the industry, offering a home-based care programme to support families caring for the dying."
Within five months, 129 Aids-struck former AngloGold miners were assisted by Teba workers.
