Success Stories: Vietnam and Colgate-Palmolive
Vietnam has enjoyed a series of hard-won development successes in the past 20 years. Thanks to a growing infrastructure, overseas investment, and multinational companies such as Colgate-Palmolive establishing bases in the country, Vietnam is now a nation on the brink of being a world manufacturing and service-industry powerhouse. However, like many countries, Vietnam's workforce is threatened by HIV/AIDS. The country's HIV/AIDS epidemic is growing rapidly, particularly among younger people. By 2005, as many as 200,000-250,000 individuals are expected to be living with HIV/AIDS. While government bodies have had some prevention successes, such as improving blood screening, HIV infections continue to rise. In 2001, the Ministry of Industry issued a mandate that all industries under its jurisdiction must implement workplace HIV/AIDS education programs, yet little was provided in the way of funding. The same year, the United States Department of Labor began working with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) to develop and implement an HIV/AIDS workplace education and prevention and program for six countries, including Vietnam. The program, Strategically Managing Aids Responses Together in the Workplace (SMARTWork) encourages both employers and unions to implement and improve workplace HIV/AIDS prevention and education programs based on social responsibility, workers' rights, and economic effectiveness.
One of the companies AED has worked with in Vietnam is Colgate-Palmolive. Colgate-Palmolive has a history of award-winning wellness programs for employees, and has worked towards HIV/AIDS policies in its sub-Saharan Africa offices, but little had been done in its significant Asian holdings. As the company noted in annual reports, "with over 5.5 million reported AIDS cases in India, China, Thailand and Vietnam, it is clear that the Company's efforts must expand into Asia as well."
SMARTWork provided training and technical assistance to Colgate managers to help the company quickly establish a workplace policy around HIV/AIDS that protected its HIV positive employees and eliminated mandatory testing. "All our workers were tested for HIV in our last annual medical checkup, but we will no longer be doing testing in the future," noted a company official. Instead, the company will promote anonymous voluntary testing, care, and support services for its employees, as well as ongoing employee education activities. The company commends AED's SMARTWork coordinator, Patrick Burke, for his dedication and persistence in bringing SMARTWork to their attention. "Colgate has been a great partner to work with," Mr. Burke replied.
Colgate-Palmolive recently revealed that it views the SMARTWork program as a model to replicate in its other branches throughout Asia, including those in China, Thailand, India, and Nepal. "We are committed to implementing SMARTWork in our workplace…We will take the lead in Asia and introduce SMARTWork to our other country affiliates in Asia," noted an official. Given the fact that southeast Asia alone houses more than a quarter of the worlds' HIV infections, this is exciting and timely news. In addition, with the support of Colgate's Vietnam management, AED is using the positive experience to gain entry and encourage a similar program with Colgate in the Dominican Republic.