How does HIV/AIDS affect the labor supply?
As already indicated, the objectives of promoting trade and increasing investment in Africa can be reached only if African businesses have an adequate supply of trained workers. –>Figure 1 shows the percent of adults in Africa infected with HIV. It is currently estimated that at least one in 12 workers in sub-Saharan Africa is infected; for some African businesses, the ratio is as high as one in three. Most infected workers will become ill and die within seven to 10 years of becoming infected. The impact from losing so many workers will vary greatly as will the response of companies with several infected workers. Most African businesses that have more than 10 employees have already seen at least one employee die of HIV/ AIDS or currently employ infected workers. In some countries, the number of HIV infected employees has been devastating. For example, • In a sugar mill in South Africa, 26 percent of all tested workers were infected with HIV. Infected workers incurred, on average, 55 a
