In this cross-post from Huffington Post, Bernard Pollack, who is taking a leave of absence from the AFL-CIO to travel through Africa, and Danielle Nierenberg describe how the Solidarity Center in South Africa is training and educating workers on HIV/AIDS protection.Home hiv test, home hiv kit, hiv test kit
Surrounded by neatly trimmed bushes and flower beds, Johnson Matthey Catalysts in Germiston, South Africa, just outside of Johannesburg, looks more like a botanical garden than a factory. But every day nearly 600 workers pass through its doors to their jobs on an assembly line making catalytic converters that are inserted in cars to reduce pollution, complying with South Africa ’s auto environmental emissions standards.Home hiv test, home hiv kit, hiv test kit
As we arrived, Percy Nhlapo, a trainer with the Solidarity Center, an AFL-CIO affiliated non-profit organization that assists workers around the world who are struggling to build democratic and independent trade unions, was leading a discussion with a group of 10 workers, correcting misconceptions about contracting the HIV virus and urging participants to get tested. The Solidarity Center is working in partnership with the National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa (NUMSA), an industrial affiliate of the country’s largest union Federation COSATU, to train and provide free HIV/AIDS testing and counseling to several thousand manufacturing workers a year. Said Percy:Home hiv test, home hiv kit, hiv test kit
HIV/AIDS affects everyone. Educating workers is the first step in helping them prevent further infection, getting tested is the second.
He likes educating smaller groups to ensure a deeper, more open discussion and estimated that he and fellow trainers, Kuki Ndlovu and Nhlanhla Mabizela, would train at least 200 workers that day alone.
After the training, nearly all the workers voluntarily agreed to be tested. At the testing area, we spoke with registered nurse Dorothy Majola, who said that before workers are tested they are given private counseling, and then she administers two separate tests–both with 99.99 percent accuracy–to ensure correct results.Home hiv test, home hiv kit, hiv test kit
I find this job so rewarding because it so important that people know their status, as soon as they know their status they can change their lifestyle and behavior, which it will allow them to live longer lives.
Within 10 minutes after being tested, workers are escorted from an outdoor waiting area with tea and refreshments to sit privately with a counselor and receive their results. We spoke with several counselors who told us that the vast majority of workers test negative despite, in many cases, believing that they were infected. One counselor told us that this relief often translates into a change in behavior.Home hiv test, home hiv kit, hiv test kit
The company, Johnson Matthey Catalysts, in coordination with NUMSA and the Solidarity Center, agreed to host the training, allowing workers to attend and get tested at the beginning and end of their work shifts. Shop stewards spend weeks prior to the training educating their co-workers about the importance of attendance. This type of cooperation ensures that throughout several days, nearly everyone at the plant participated in the training and testing.Home hiv test, home hiv kit, hiv test kit
Brian Shezi, the HIV/AIDS program director for the Solidarity Center, told us the workers’ unions are effective spokespersons to train and encourage HIV testing because of the fundamental trust and connection workers feel towards them.
Since October 2005 we’ve been working with unions to promote access to HIV/AIDS services, education, gender training, and union capacity building.
Visiting worksites is just one of the Solidarity Center techniques to educate workers about HIV/AIDS. At the Rwanda/Uganda border in Katuna, Uganda, we visited a HIV/AIDS Resource Center providing a safe space for long-distance truck drivers to socialize and receive free education, counseling and HIV testing.Home hiv test, home hiv kit, hiv test kit