For immediate release
September 28, 2005
MEDIA RELEASE
DE BEERS WINS INTERNATIONAL HIV/AIDS AWARD
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Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS Honors Companies' Efforts
to Fight the Epidemic at Kennedy Center Gala |
Washington, September 28, 2005 — Today De Beers is being honored for its workplace
response to HIV/AIDS counseling and testing by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) at its Annual Awards for Business Excellence Gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and actress Angelina Jolie, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton will be featured speakers at the event.
Led by President and CEO Richard Holbrooke and Executive Director Trevor Neilson, GBC is the pre-eminent organization harnessing the power of the international business community in responding to the challenges of the epidemic. Instituted in 1998, GBC's Awards for Business Excellence identify and honor private-industry HIV/AIDS programs that have far-reaching effects on the workplace and the community. At the 2004 GBC Awards for Business Excellence Gala, De Beers was commended for its effort to manage the affliction caused by the HIV/AIDS epidemic through various workplace programs, which it does in partnership with the South African National Union of Mineworkers. This year, GBC will recognize six companies for spearheading efforts to make an impact on the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
"As an active member of the organization, De Beers is honored to be recognized for our efforts in fighting the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, where nearly half of the world's people infected with the virus live," said Jonathan Oppenheimer, Managing Director of De Beers Consolidated Mines Limited. "With the De Beers Group's most important diamond producing companies currently based in southern Africa, we recognize the need for a progressive and innovative approach to meet the threat posed by the epidemic to our business, our employees, their families and the communities in which we operate."
The HIV testing program, for which De Beers is being honored by the GBC, is an integral component of a comprehensive workplace response. Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) services are made available in southern Africa to all De Beers employees, their spouses, contractors, and, where possible, are often extended to community members as well.
De Beers also has a peer educator program which uses employees who volunteer their skills to engage their colleagues and encourage testing through conveying the benefits of knowing one's status and de-stigmatizing the disease.
In 2004, the focus on VCT within De Beers has resulted in a drastic rise in testing of employees and spouses. In some campaigns, as much as 80 percent to 90 percent of the permanent workforce was tested. This has also seen a marked increase in the registration on the company's treatment program.
The company believes that testing is only effective if offered as part of a comprehensive program. Without being able to offer access to treatment to those who discover they are HIV positive, there is little incentive for individuals to come forward.
The VCT program is just one component of De Beers' efforts to manage HIV and AIDS in the workplace and beyond. The company also offers free anti-retroviral treatment as part of a holistic disease management program to employees and a spouse or life partner, and this is extended to retired or retrenched employees.
Says Jonathan Oppenheimer: "Looking back on the milestones reached in the De Beers HIV/AIDS workplace program, our sense of accomplishment is coupled with a growing understanding that the boundary between company and community is an artificial and tenuous distinction when it comes to combating a disease of the magnitude of AIDS."
As the impact of AIDS has grown, so too has the diversity of programs dealing with the epidemic. De Beers supports a range of HIV/AIDS related projects from prevention initiatives aimed at youth to training for home-based care workers and finding alternative models for child and orphan care in the community.
In addition, De Beers will build a community-based program specifically targeted at women in the context of HIV/AIDS.
De Beers is deeply committed to being a responsible corporate citizen and "living up to diamonds" - a philosophy that began with Sir Ernest Oppenheimer decades ago. He dedicated the company to making a real and sustainable contribution to the socio-economic development of those countries in which De Beers operates.
Today that commitment is expressed, in part, through the work of the De Beers Fund - the company's social investment vehicle in South Africa - which supports the efforts of hundreds of community organizations and development projects that aim to bring lasting change to those who need it most.
De Beers' continuing success owes much to the partnerships they have built with governments, communities, NGOs and other businesses. These symbiotic relationships and acts of corporate social responsibility are fitting for a company whose focus - the diamond - is nothing less than the perfect symbol of enduring partnership between two people.
For more information, please visit the De Beers Web site at www.debeersgroup.com.
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| For further information contact: |
De Beers London:
Lynette Hori +44 20 7430 3509/+44 7740 393260 |
De Beers South Africa:
Nicola Wilson +27 11 374 7399/+27 83 299 5552 |
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