Kassile Telemu, Anicetus Honest, Kukula Raphael, Mmbando Bruno P
Faculty of Science, Sokoine University of Agriculture, P,O Box 3038, Morogoro, Tanzania.
BMC Public Health. 2014 Jun 20;14:630. doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-14-630.
HIV is a major public health problem in the world, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. It often leads to loss of productive labour and disruption of existing social support system which results in deterioration of population health. This poses a great challenge to infected people in meeting their essential goods and services. This paper examines health and social support services provided by employers to HIV/AIDS infected employees in Tanzania.
This was a cross-sectional study, which employed qualitative and quantitative methods in data collection and analysis. Structured questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to assess the health and social support services provision at employers and employees perspectives. The study participants were employees and employers from public and private organizations.
A total of 181 employees and 23 employers from 23 workplaces aged between 18-68 years were involved. The results show that 23.8% (i.e., 20.4% males and 27.3% females) of the employees had at least one member of the family or close relatives living with HIV at the time of the study. Fifty six percent of the infected employees reported to have been receiving health or social support from their employers. Employees' responses were consistent with those reported by their employers. A total of 12(52.2%) and 11(47.8%) employers reported to have been providing health and social supports respectively. Female employees (58.3%) from the private sector (60.0%) were more likely to receive supports than male employees (52.6%) and than those from the public sector (46.2%). The most common health and social support received by the employees were treatment, and nutritional support and reduction of workload, respectively.
HIV/AIDS infected employees named treatment and nutritional support, and soft loans and reduced workload respectively, as the most important health and social supports they needed from their employers. This study provides baseline information for further studies on provision of health and social support services by employers to HIV/AIDS infected employees in the context of a developing economy like Tanzania.
艾滋病毒是全球主要的公共卫生问题，在撒哈拉以南非洲地区尤为突出。它常常导致劳动力丧失，扰乱现有的社会支持系统，进而致使人口健康状况恶化。这给感染者获取基本物资和服务带来了巨大挑战。本文考察了坦桑尼亚雇主为感染艾滋病毒/艾滋病的雇员提供的健康和社会支持服务。
这是一项横断面研究，在数据收集与分析中采用了定性和定量方法。通过结构化问卷和深入访谈，从雇主和雇员的角度评估健康和社会支持服务的提供情况。研究参与者为来自公共和私营组织的雇员及雇主。
共有来自23个工作场所、年龄在18至68岁之间的181名雇员和23名雇主参与其中。结果显示，在研究之时，23.8%的雇员（即20.4%的男性和27.3%的女性）家中至少有一名家庭成员或近亲感染艾滋病毒。56%的感染雇员报告称从雇主那里获得了健康或社会支持。雇员的回答与雇主的报告一致。分别有12名（52.2%）和11名（47.8%）雇主报告称提供了健康和社会支持。私营部门的女性雇员（58.3%）和来自私营部门的雇员（60.0%）比男性雇员（52.6%）以及公共部门的雇员（46.2%）更有可能获得支持。雇员获得的最常见的健康和社会支持分别是治疗、营养支持以及工作量减少。
感染艾滋病毒/艾滋病的雇员分别将治疗和营养支持、软贷款以及工作量减少列为他们最需要雇主提供的重要健康和社会支持。本研究为在坦桑尼亚这样的发展中经济体背景下，进一步研究雇主为感染艾滋病毒/艾滋病的雇员提供健康和社会支持服务提供了基线信息。
