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Mobilising the Hotel Sector to protect workers from HIV risks
Lao PDR is considered a low HIV prevalence country with an estimated infection rate of less than 0.2% of the population, despite bordering Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Yunnan Province in China, all with much higher prevalence rates. However, as the Lao economy opens up and construction, road-building and entertainment services expand, there is great concern about the risks of increased infection among most at risk groups. The issues of work and workplace transmission as well as stigma and discrimination are the focus of APHEDA’s intervention in HIV/AIDS in Lao PDR.
The project utilises games to illustrate primary HIV transmission paths
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Currently, there are few HIV education materials available in Lao language that are specifically-tailored to work sectors that are high risk, such as hotel workers. Knowledge of HIV transmission paths in the community also remains low, with less than half of Lao young adults able to correctly identify how HIV is and is not transmitted.
The booming hotel industry in Lao PDR serves as a link to restaurants, night clubs and beer shops. This increases opportunities for buying and selling sex, and increases vulnerabilities, especially to staff. The ILO and APHEDA came together in 2008 to develop a project targeting at risk hospitality workers.
In a tripartite approach, with the Lao Federation of Trade Unions (LFTU), the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MoLSW) and the Hotels' Association of the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), APHEDA works with 15 hotels in Luang Prabang and Vientiane to develop an HIV manual for the tourism sector and work to mobilise the hotel sector to respond to HIV/AIDS at the workplace.
The project has adapted the ILO's Using the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work: Guidelines for the Tourism Sector to the Lao context for the first time. Workplace trainers have received training in the new material in order to train their colleagues in HIV knowledge and prevention and begin their hotel's response to HIV/AIDS at the workplace. APHEDA is supporting the hotels to develop workplace HIV/AIDS policies and committees in order to provide an on-going response to the many issues involved in HIV/AIDS in the workplace. . The aim is to develop a sector-wide response which incorporates workplace policy, training, prevention and non-discrimination, protection and representation for workers.
The project is the first of its kind in Lao PDR and the first adaptation of the ILO's guideline's for the tourism sector in the world. This project will help shape the future of workplace responses to HIV in Laos.
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