Responses of large private manufacturing companies to the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Nairobi

Abstract

Organisations exist in a complex commercial, economic, political, teclmological, cultural and social environment. This environment is turbulent and it is more complex to some organisations than others. The success of every organisation is determined by its responsiveness to the environment. To be able to retain competitive advantage, organisations need to examine their environment both internal and external and respond accordingly. HIV/AIDS is one of the significant recent developments in the environment. Organisations are therefore expected to respond to the impact of HIV /AIDS. This study set out to investigate the response of companies to the pandemic. The objective of this study was to establish and analyse the responses that have been put in place to counter the devastating impacts of AIDS in organisations. The study focused on large private manufacturing companies operating in Nairobi, Kenya. The research design used was a cross sectional survey. The population consisted of 250 companies and a sample size of 100 was used for this study. Data collection instrument was a structured questionnaire administered through drop and pick method and respondents were mainly personnel managers and CEOs. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Frequencies and percentages were used to summarize and present collected data. The study revealed that 86% of firms have responded to AIDS crisis. Some of the actions taken by businesses include promoting prevention and education, improving workplace policies to ensure rights for employees such as access to health care and counseling. The limitations were mainly on data collection, which was constrained by the attitude of some organisations owing to confidentiality of the subject as well as budget and time. Though some businesses have responded to the AIDS crisis, many more are at early stages in establishing HIV/AIDS workplace prevention programmes or developing appropriate policies. Today the Kenyan government has not been actively involved in developing legal and regulatory guidelines for the business sector. As a recommendation, a well crafted approach of public and private sector collaboration in workplace HIV/AIDS prevention and policy planning promises to address Kenya's AIDS crisis in a manner that will yield human, socioeconomic development, and private sector benefits in future.