HIV prevention to be included in Russian employee training programmes

The Ministry of Labour plans to include information about HIV prevention in its work briefings

25.02.2019

Alongside how to correctly use plug sockets and how to look for the emergency exit in case of fire, employees of Russian companies will now also be told how to avoid HIV infection.

Izvestia reports that specialists believe that the workplace is the most effective space to educate the adult population.

The relevant document was approved by vice prime minister, Tatiana Golikova. The document says that basic information regarding the prevention of HIV infection should be included in occupational safety training programmes. It also states that the discrimination of people with HIV is unacceptable. The Ministry of Labour has been assigned responsibility for its development. The Ministry should submit materials to the commission by June.

‘The new programme includes topics regarding the prevention of socially significant diseases, including HIV infection’, the press service of the Ministry of Labour explained.

 

According to the director of the Federal Centre for the Prevention of AIDS, Vadim Pokrovsky, there is a logic to this initiative. Currently, HIV is most widely spread amongst those older than 30, that is people who have already finished school and university, who have already formed interests and who are not prepared to specially spend time on training programmes. It is important that employers are prepared to allocate at least 10-15 minutes of working time on this briefing.

Although in practice, experts believe that the majority of employers will not actually conduct the trainings and ask employees just to tick the box anyway.

There are currently varying statistics about the number of people infected with HIV in Russia. According to data from the Ministry of Health, there are 714 thousand. But the Federal Centre for the Prevention of AIDS and the Central Research Institute of Epidemiology of Rospotrebnadzor believe the number to be higher – 998 thousand people.

Source: https://www.asi.org.ru/news/2019/02/25/mintrud-instruktazh/

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