WEF stresses role of business coalitions in tackling AIDS

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- Business coalitions have emerged as a highly effective platform for businesses to address the challenges of AIDS and are helping 1 million companies tackle the disease in the workplace, said a report by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

The report was released on Thursday by the forum's Global Health Initiative and is the first global report on business coalitions and the role they play in supporting the private sector to tackle AIDS around the world.

To date, four regional and 47 national business coalitions have been formed, and together they have supported over 1 million companies in implementing local AIDS workplace programs, said the report.

The business coalition is a relatively new concept worldwide, with over 40 percent launched in the last two years and over 60 percent in the last five years.

"By placing a spotlight on the increasingly important role that business coalitions are playing in the response to AIDS around the world, we hope that this global report will spur further engagement and action by businesses," said Richard Samans, managing director at the forum.

"Business coalitions help individual companies respond to the pandemic more effectively through collaboration, in particular by providing them with tools and processes that have been developed and tested in practice by their peers," he added.

The report presents the current global landscape of business coalition activity, reviewing their different organizational, governance, membership and financial models, outlining best practices and highlighting the key challenges they face as they strive to serve the private sector.

The report underlines five points of consideration for existing and emerging coalitions to effectively support businesses in tackling AIDS while ensuring their long-term stability:

-- Establish a coalition based on national HIV prevalence and the impact on local businesses;

-- Engage all relevant stakeholders upfront before launching a national coalition;

-- Ensure continued private sector engagement and investment;

-- Adapt the business model and services to suit the changing environment;

-- Proactively seek to build in-house skills and expertise.

The Global Health Initiative aims to facilitate and stimulate greater business engagement in health systems and in the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.