icy reduces the stigma of the disease with a clear statement of nondiscrimination. That’s accomplished
with employee training to reinforce
that HIV/AIDS discrimination will
not be tolerated in your workplace.
“Stigma drives the disease into the
darkness, and that’s where it flour-ishes, ” says Bloom. “If people are
stigmatized, they’re not going to
come forward and get help.”
Expanding Healthcare to Your Supply Chain
Once you’ve taken care of business
in-house, it’s important to reach out
to help your trading partners.
“We suggest that large companies work with the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in their supply chain to do what they’ve done in
their workplace, ” explains Francesca
Boldrini, director of the Global Health
Initiative for the World Economic
Forum in Geneva, Switzerland.
SMEs are often the driving force of
local communities, but lack the resources and bargaining power that
large businesses have to start their
own HIV/AIDS programs. Suppliers
to Eskom South Africa, a primary
provider of electric power in Sub-Saharan Africa, were so devastated by
the epidemic that Eskom could no
longer guarantee a steady supply of
electricity to customers. So last fall,
Eskom rolled out an HIV/AIDS workplace program to help its 1,000 suppliers. Working with local AIDS
organizations, Eskom launched a
pilot program involving 40 high-risk
suppliers. Each received free training and tools on how to kick-start an
HIV/AIDS workplace initiative. Eskom has since expanded the program to include 150 suppliers and is
working on more.
Forging Public/Private Partnerships
Businesses committed to fighting
this pandemic also are bringing the
issue of HIV/AIDS into the public
arena. According to Radwin, companies are forming unique partnerships with government and nonprof-
its to provide healthcare education,
treatment and testing in communities. One example is getting under
way in Detroit, where some 90 businesses located in neighborhoods
with the highest number of HIV
cases have partnered with the CDC
to launch a project called “Stopping
AIDS Is Everyone’s Business.”
Working with the local health department, companies are distributing
posters and brochures to customers
about how to protect themselves.
Such partnerships illustrate effective corporate responsibility—a sign
of things to come. Says Roberts:
“Business and the public sector
have an opportunity to reach common ground through AIDS, since all
of us are affected by the toll this disease has taken on people.”
© DiversityInc. This advertising-supported
section was written by Bob Trebilcock under
contract to DiversityInc. Content is the property
of DiversityInc. For more information, please contact
gzoppo@DiversityInc.com
Ten percent of the revenues generated by this advertising-supported section will be donated to amfAR.
Mattel: Meeting the Needs of Children Impacted by HIV/AIDS
For Mattel, meeting the needs of children doesn’t
stop at the toy aisle. Through its support of the
Children Affected by AIDS Foundation (CAAF),
Mattel is also meeting the needs of children
impacted by HIV/AIDS. Founded in 1993 by a
Mattel executive, CAAF is solely devoted to
providing social, educational, recreational and
other critical support programs to vulnerable
children impacted by HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and
other countries.
“When CAAF was founded, most funding in Joe Cristina
the field was directed toward pediatric AIDS
medical research,” says Joe Cristina, Mattel’s vice president for worldwide trade shows, travel & meeting planning
services and the founder of CAAF. “But there were also
grass-roots organizations started by nurses and mothers
that couldn’t get funding to meet the direct care and services needs of children already affected by HIV/AIDS.”
To help meet that need, CAAF raised $500,000 its first
year through Dream Halloween®, an event now held annually in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago. Thirteen years
later, CAAF has raised more than $23 million and has funded a wide variety of services for children affected by AIDS,
including food, clothing, transportation, psycho-social support and recreational programs. Additionally, the CAAF
Camp Network provides these children with
camp activities, and the CAAF Play Area
Program provides safe, fun play areas for
organizations caring for children and families
affected by AIDS.
An HIV-positive man himself, Cristina founded CAAF with the help and encouragement of
Mattel’s most senior leadership and the support of many employee volunteers. Heartfelt
support of CAAF’s mission continues today
through funding from the Mattel Children’s
Foundation, which has helped elevate CAAF to
an international level.
Through its support of CAAF, Mattel has demonstrated
that it honors and respects a diverse community. “As a creative company, Mattel attracts an incredibly diverse group
of employees,” says Cristina. “I can’t tell you how many
employees have told me that working with CAAF is a way
for them to honor the people they know who have been
impacted by AIDS.”
For more information on CAAF, visit www.caaf4kids.org.
The world’s largest toy company, Mattel is best known for such
well-known brands as Barbie®, Hot Wheels®, Fisher-Price®
and American Girl®. Mattel’s philanthropic vision is to make
a meaningful difference, one child at a time.
