HIV and AIDS a gift

Aids a Gift

"HIV and AIDS has been gifted to us in order for us to understand that to survive, we need to behave in a manner that promotes monogamous relationships".

"HIV and AIDS has been gifted to us in order for us to understand that to survive, we need to behave in a manner that promotes monogamous relationships".

What would appear to be a highly controversial statement by Diane Ritson, CEO of PeopleManagement, is backed up by a wealth of knowledge collated over a lengthy period of working with those living with HIV and AIDS and trying to find ever more effective ways of getting the message across.

"For far too many years, varying departments and ministries have tried to find ways of getting sometimes conflicting messages out to the public at large. It is obvious to me, that the message is not being received. 5 million South Africans infected with the virus bear testament to that", Ritson goes on to say.

"If people were aware of their status and tested before entering into a monogamous relationship, the incidences of HIV infections would drastically reduce" Ritson says.

Indeed a difficult solution, and a slow process, but one that could be eventually attainable, through tireless education, communication and commitment.

"Just imagine, if every person in this country got tested, then entered a monogamous relationship and didn't stray, HIV and AIDS would very quickly become a thing of the past instead of killing 934 people a day" Ritson continues.

"Certainly, if two of the new Airbus A380's crashed every single day killing all 1000 passengers, we would all be looking for answers; we certainly wouldn't be dragging our feet for years. We would demand answers. Solutions like changing the paint job or using thicker rubber on the tyres would not be acceptable. Millions and millions of Dollars would be injected into the investigation until the cause of the problem had been found. Though Airbus A380's would probably be grounded, something more than condoms will be needed to ground this HIV and AIDS disaster", says Ritson.

Founded in 1999, PeopleManagement assists breadwinners to know their HIV status - this includes policy development, training, communication and voluntary counselling and testing. 

In the past six years the organisation has worked with many national and multi-national companies putting in place `Know your Status' and `Own Your Status' campaigns.  These campaigns specifically target the employed to proactively help them manage the impact of HIV/Aids on their lives and in business. 
 
To-date over 50 000 employees have received training with more than 31 000 volunteering to be tested and know their HIV status.
 
Clients include The Barloworld Group of Companies, PPC, BATSA, Santam, Petro SA, Caltex/Chevron, Shell, Sanlam, Oceana Group Ltd, SPAR, De Beers, Pioneer Foods, WPK and others.
 
PeopleManagement has offices in Cape Town and Johannesburg