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Mix-Ansicht- HIV wreaks havoc on SA work force - Cosa, 19.04.2002, 00:30
HIV wreaks havoc on SA work force
Hi!
Zwei Meldungen zu Südafrika und dem Ausmass der HIV-Infektionen:
<font size="4">HIV wreaks havoc on SA work force</font>
Johannesburg - Aids will drive down the life expectancy of a South African woman to 43 in 2005, according to NMG-Levy's annual report on labour relations and employee benefits.
According to the report, South Africa's women, with a life expectancy of 54 in 1999, will survive only until the age of 37 in 2010, while men will live to 38.
"The population of those aged 15 and below will be relatively large, as will the population of seniors aged 50 and above," said the report, released on Thursday.
"The pandemic will take a dramatic toll on the most productive members of the population, those in their 20s, 30s and 40s."
The report predicts that close to 30% of South Africa's work force will be HIV-positive in 2005.
It said by 2010, one million South Africans would be sick with Aids, while six million would already have died from Aids-related diseases. South Africa had a population of 40 million according to the 1996 census.
The report also said 1.25 million work days were lost to strikes in 2001, compared to 500 000 in 2000.
It said pay was the most likely cause of a walkout, with pay disputes accounting for 97% of all work days lost.
Quelle
<font size="4">Gold Fields' 26.5% HIV shock</font>
Melbourne - HIV/Aids among its workers is projected to cost Gold Fields Limited between US$4 and $10 for each ounce of gold it mines in added production costs, chairman and chief executive Chris Thompson said on Tuesday.
Thompson said that more than a quarter of its 50 000 employees are HIV positive, and that a number of company-run intervention and home care programmes are underway to address the epidemic.
HIV can lead to Aids and studies show HIV/Aids infects one in nine South Africans, or about 20% of the adult population.
"Without intervention, as we calculate it, Aids will cost us about $10 an ounce," in health costs, Thompson said on the sidelines of the Australian Gold Conference.
"With interventions, and we have a number of good interventions under way, we can probably get it down to about A$4. Of that cost, we are probably absorbing 35% now," Thompson said.
Gold Fields mines about 4.7 million ounces a year, currently at an average cost near $170 an ounce, Thompson said.
South Africa's Bureau for Economic Research says that because of Aids, South Africa's economy is likely to be 1.5% lower by 2010 than it would be without Aids and 5.7% lower by 2015.
Gold Fields has been barred from screening employees for HIV/Aids since 1998, but estimates 26.5% of its workforce is HIV positive, Thompson said.
About 140 000 people work in South Africa's gold mines.
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