Document Type

Brief

Publication Date

2004

Abstract

This brief examines the role of incentives in encouraging companies in Thailand to adopt workplace policies and programs that address AIDS-related stigma and discrimination and respond to the needs of workers for information and services. The research was a collaboration between the Horizons Program, American International Assurance (AIA), the Thailand Business Coalition on AIDS (TBCA), and AusAID. After the initiative was launched (known as the AIDS-response Standard Organization), TBCA staff built relationships with company managers to explain and promote the advantages of joining. Companies agreeing to implement at least three HIV/AIDS workplace policies would receive a reduction of 5–10 percent off group life insurance premiums from AIA, Thailand’s largest insurance provider, if they were AIA clients. As the initiative evolved, TBCA introduced the additional incentive of a certificate endorsed by the government and awarded at a high-profile public ceremony. For each company agreeing to participate, TBCA offered assistance to enhance their activities, including providing educational leaflets, videos, and a mobile exhibition, as well as condoms, peer education training, counseling and referrals to support groups for HIV-positive employees, and assistance with writing company HIV/AIDS policies.

DOI

10.31899/hiv15.1007

Language

English

Project

Horizons Program

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