Theme: "The Private Sector and the Fight against HIV/AIDS: The Case of India"

Event: jointly organised by US -India Business Council (USIBC), Population Services International (PSI), The Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and FICCI

Venue: Hotel Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai

Date: March 13, 2007

Speech delivered by MR. B MUTHURAMAN, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TATA STEEL

Ms Ashley Judd, Mr. Ron Sommers and Ladies and Gentleman,

It is my pleasure to represent Tata Steel in the gathering to discuss "THE PRIVATE SECTOR AND THE FIGHT AGAINST HIV/AIDS: THE CASE OF INDIA".

Over the last 100 years of its existence, Tata Steel has done many things of which we are proud of and among the many things are several major initiatives in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility. The Tata Group and Tata Steel have always believed that the primary responsibility of an industrial enterprise is to improve the quality of life of people around and to discharge this responsibility well; one needs to run the enterprise well and profitably so that wealth so created can be shared with the people. This philosophy is not new. It is 100 year old and has not come out of seminars. It comes from the heart.

I want to share with you as to how, apart from making steel and being the most profitable steel company in the world, how and what we do to deal with HIV/AIDS.

In 1994, Tata Steel evolved a Corporate Sector Model to prevent HIV/AIDS and constituted a Core Group to focus on this disease and formulate actions for its control and prevention. The members of this Core Group are drawn from various divisions of the company like Community Development and Social Welfare Department, Centre for Family Initiatives, Personnel, Tata Steel Rural Development Society, Tribal Cultural Society, Public Health and Medical Division as well as invitees from local Government and Private Organizations. The Governor of this Core Group is a full time technical person.

This Core Group conducts AIDS awareness Programmes especially for women and Youth using various information -Education -Communication media and forum, not only among citizens in and around Jamshedpur but also for those residing in 700 odd villages around Jamshedpur.

Tata Steel adopts a policy of non-discrimination between HIV injected employees and other employees. The company firmly believes that by continuously informing and educating various sections of society, adequately awareness could be built in the community, which in turn would take appropriate preventive measures against the disease.

There is no pre-employment screening for HIV status. Confidentiality of HIV infected employees is maintained with continuation of their employment. They are relocated to assignments that are better suited to their physical ability.

Workplace programmes are conducted regularly with the help of HR Personnel for both the permanent employees as well as contract labour which also helps sensitise employees and reduce stigma and discrimination. Approximately 250 AIDS Awareness programmes are conducted every year in the workplace.

To provide care and support to those affected by STI/HIV/AIDS, a single 'window' health delivery concept, Sneh Kendra, was started to provide pre & post Test counseling for HIV, referral linkage with Government, Voluntary Confidential Counselling & Testing Centre (VCCTC), STI (sexually Transmitted Infections) counseling & treatments, treatment of Opportunistic infections (infections which rarely occur in normal population, but which occur in HIV+ people as their immune status is poor), Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Treatment (HAART) prescriptive advice and treatment adherence counseling, Preventing Parent to Child Transmission (PPTCT) plus referral linkages to local hospitals for ensuring safe delivery in hygienic conditions for HIV+ women as well as their post-delivery follow up and immunization to baby. Vocational training of women who are affected or infected with HIV/AIDS is done to make them self-reliant and economically independent. Linkage is done with Rotary Club of Jamshedpur MidTown, Truckers' Association and Association of Sacred Heart (school) Alumni (ASHA) for educational support for children from HIV/AIDS affected families. All HIV+ employees or their dependents are provided with HAART free of cost by the company. Tata Main Hospital provides "treatment without discrimination" to all positive people. Jamshedpur Blood Bank encourages voluntary blood donation which ensures availability of "safe blood". Advocacy with Jharkhand State AIDS Control Society (JSACS) has helped non-entitled HIV+ persons to be referred from Sneh Kendra to the Government Medical College Hospital for enrollment in the HAART programme.

To increase the reach of the programmes, Peer leaders are identified in the community and trained. Internal and external experts are invited to conduct training and workshops for capacity building of knowledge and skills of all stakeholders in health and community-based care and support services on a regular basis.

Tata Steel Ltd believes in networking with like-minded agencies e.g. National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), UNAIDS, Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (Tata Steel is infact the recipient of Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS Award 2003 its HIV/AIDS initiatives in the community), ILO, CII-Indian Business Trust, WHO, JSACS, Transport Corporation of India Foundation (TCIF), PFI, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation to share resources.

To help the district health services, Core Group-AIDS introduced computer-based Health Information Management System (HIMS) in Jamshedpur. Each month statistics on new HIV+ cases from local Health Institutions is collated in the Civil Surgeon's Office.

With all this, we believe we are just scratching the surface. There is much more to do. Government cannot alone do everything. We believe, industry needs to assume a larger responsibility towards the people of the society and their well-being.

Thank you for being a lovely audience.