Marking World AIDS Day on December 1st John Keells Group is announcing their HIV/AIDS Workplace Policy across their leisure industry companies in Sri Lanka. John Keells CSR began conducting HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in 2005 making them the first private sector company in Sri Lanka to embark on this type of campaign. Their Social Responsibility Foundation has reached businesses, hotels, the armed forces, prisons and other sectors of society.

Despite the low presence of HIV infection in Sri Lanka, which is less than 0.1%, there is still a huge need to educate and raise awareness about the disease said Dr. Sujatha Samarakoon, Consultant Venereologist, National STD AIDS Control Programme at a recent media briefing. 1,161 cases of HIV were reported in Sri Lanka on September 1st of this year. The need to reach out and educate people not only on preventing transmission of the disease, but more importantly on the consequences of HIV and AIDS are key focuses of the Foundation.

According to Dr. Sujatha the problem of paediatric HIV infection is a growing concern in Sri Lanka with 41 cases accounted for since September. These innocent children are infected through no fault of their own, and seeing HIV is an incurable disease, they must suffer from birth. People have to be made aware and educated about the far reaching consequences of contracting this disease, which is what the programmes are doing.