"If you’ve got global operations, you’ve got an HIV-infected workforce”
- Rosen et al. (2003)


Every day, more than 11.000 people are infected with HIV worldwide. Sub-Saharan Africa still accounts for approximately 25 million of the world’s 39.5 million people living with HIV, but the epidemic is far from under control in the rest of the world. UNAIDS’ latest report confirms that Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America are currently experiencing an alarming increase in the number of newly infected. Annual HIV diagnoses have more than doubled since 2000 in Ukraine, making it the most affected European country today.

Danish companies are becoming increasingly globalised; production is outsourced and sales are expanded internationally. At the same time, stronger demands for corporate social responsibility are voiced by customers, politicians and business partners.

HIV infects people in their productive and reproductive prime. When employees, partners and customers get sick and die, it is not just an individual catastrophe for the infected and their families; it also represents a serious business concern. Experienced workers are lost, the social fabric is weakened, and productivity is compromised. By undermining the productive core of the society, HIV/AIDS threatens the benefits of globalisation.

The cost model developed in cooperation between The Danish AIDS Foundation and Copenhagen Development Consulting estimates the direct costs of HIV/AIDS to your company. Making these costs visible is an important step in any sustainable corporate social responsibility effort to combat HIV/AIDS.

The model is based on the HIV rates estimated in the UNAIDS/WHO Report on the global AIDS epidemic, May 2006. Its predictions are based on company information inputs about the workforce and the country of operation. The resulting costs are expressed as a percentage of the total wages. The cost model is a general one and has certain limitations. The Danish AIDS Foundation and Copenhagen Development Consulting have developed an extensive model that can process more specific data and compute several cost/benefit scenarios. For more information about the extensive model, please contact Laura Kirkegaard laura@aidsfondet.dk or Henriette Bonnevie hb@copenhagendc.com.