Speeches of Former Amb. Chaveas

Chamber Speech

February 26, 2002

HIV/AIDS: THE ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL THREAT

REMARKS BY PETER R. CHAVEAS AMBASSADOR OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE TO THE SIERRA LEONE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, INDUSTRY AND AGRICULTURE

I greatly appreciate the Chamber’s invitation to speak today.  I value this opportunity for two specific reasons.  First, I know that when one speaks before this Chamber, one is guaranteed an audience of great quality that includes the leaders of the Sierra Leone business world.  Second, you are affording me an opportunity to address a subject about which I feel very strongly and with which I believe the leaders, including the business leaders, of this country must become deeply involved.

Last month we all rejoiced as the word passed that ceremonies at Lungi on January 18, and in following days in provincial capitals, had brought a formal end to more than a decade of horror.  In the simple but eloquent words of His Excellency President Kabbah, “di wor don don.”  The sense of relief is palpable.  Sierra Leonean’s and friends of Sierra Leone dare to hope that years of war are over and that this country is to be given a second chance to overcome decades of corruption and mismanagement and to realize its potential as a land richly endowed with human and natural resources.

I and my government are among those friends of Sierra Leone who believe that the basis has been established for a much more promising future for this country.  Realizing that promise will demand time and a great deal of hard work.  The task in many respects will be more demanding than that which brought us to that wonderful event on January 18, but it will be well worth the effort and you will have good partners in the international community.

Yet ironically, the peace that we all cherish carries with it the seeds of a threat which, left unaddressed, portends greater pain and suffering than the war that Sierra Leone has just left behind.  The threat I have in mind is that posed by HIV/AIDS.  Peace will bring, is already bringing, increased commerce and freer travel.  Two weeks ago, I was in Makeni.  I was amazed by how much the town has come alive since I visited in October at the very beginning of the disarmament process in that area.  Unfortunately, this very increase in activity and movement, which is happening in many towns and villages around the country, also increases the potential for the spread of HIV/AIDS.  Left unchecked, this threat will quite simply overwhelm all of the hard won accomplishments of the past months.

To give you some idea of the nature of the threat, let me offer a few facts about another African country.  It is estimated that by 2010, the economy of this country will be one-third smaller than it would have been were HIV/AIDS not a factor.  In 1990, the average life expectancy in this country was 60 years.  By 2010, it is estimated that it will be 30!  By 2010, two out of every five children will be orphans and the government will be called upon to provide foster care for some 200,000 children.  The country I am describing is Botswana.  Botswana has one of the highest rates of incidence of HIV/AIDS in the world, but it also has the strongest economy in Africa.  Indeed, until HIV/AIDS became a major factor, it had one of the fastest growing economies in the world.  It is most unlikely that the incidence of HIV/AIDS in Sierra Leone approaches the level in Botswana, which is well above 30% of the adult population.  But Sierra Leone is the poorest country in the world.  It can ill afford any development that might impede its efforts to rebuild its economy.  Left unchecked, HIV/AIDS will not just impede this economy, it will devastate it and with it the fragile social and political fabric already so damaged by war and a history of bad governance.

Let’s be clear about the magnitude of the problem in Sierra Leone.  At this point we don’t know the incidence of HIV/AIDS with any precision.  The data are fragmentary but we will soon be able to see the problem with greater clarity.  In April, the Centers for Disease Control, based in Atlanta, Georgia, working in close collaboration with the Government of Sierra Leone and the World Bank, will conduct this country’s first comprehensive national survey of the prevalence of HIV/AIDS.  I will not hazard a guess as to what the numbers will be, but let me say with considerable confidence that I am sure that most Sierra Leoneans will be shocked.  This problem is already much bigger than you think.  I hope I am wrong.  I would love nothing more than to come before this audience again later this year and say I was wrong.  Hallelujah, I was wrong.  I fear and firmly believe that I am right.

If the numbers generate shock, they must not generate despondency.  And you, the leaders of Sierra Leone’s business community can, indeed must, play a critical role in assuring that the shock is turned into determination to attack this menace, not into a fatalistic acceptance.

Why should the business community be particularly concerned and what should you do about it?  You should be concerned because, quite aside from the human tragedy, your bottom lines will be impacted, perhaps dramatically.  HIV/AIDS will lead directly to a reduction in the labor supply.  In an environment such as that in Sierra Leone, where unskilled labor is in abundant supply, the impact will be less dramatic if your requirement is only for labor in this category.  But consider the challenges you already face in finding and developing skilled and semi-skilled workers.

HIV/AIDS does not respect educational qualifications and social class.  Indeed, in many countries, deaths among the most educated classes, amongst those who must be counted upon to lead every sector of society, are already raising profound fears about future economic and political governance.   When HIV/AIDS becomes epidemic, you will find workers in all categories harder to find and when you do find them, you will lose your investment in their development earlier as deaths from aids tend to occur in workers during their most productive years.

Profitability will decline.  More workers will take more sick days.  Healthy workers will spend more time caring for their ill relatives or attending the funerals of family and friends.  When on the job, their preoccupation with the well being of their loved ones will reduce their productivity.  Health costs will rise.  If you provide medical support for your employees, there will be a direct increase in your costs.  If your employees depend on government medical and social services, the costs to government will increase and government will pass those costs on to you in the form of increased taxes.  Rising death rates will require you to spend more on training new workers.

Labor relations may deteriorate, particularly if workers believe that you are not doing enough to support them in difficult circumstances.   Depending on the nature of your product, demand may decline significantly as individual consumers dealing with HIV/AIDS spend more of their disposable income on health care and funeral services.  For example, a major furniture manufacturer in South Africa has predicted an 18% decline in his customer base as a result of HIV/AIDS. 

What should the business community do about this threat?  First and foremost, you should lead.  Do not wait for government or the international community.  I am not an HIV/AIDS expert.  I am not medically trained;  I have no experience in the public health field;  I am not a professional educator.  But I have lived and worked in Africa for many years, most recently in southern Africa where the crisis is particularly acute.  I have traveled extensively elsewhere in Africa and have observed efforts to address HIV/AIDS in a wide range of circumstances.  I am absolutely convinced that a critical variable in the success or failure of any effort to attack this problem is leadership.

Let me offer two examples.  I served as Ambassador to the Republic of Malawi from 1994 to 97.  In 1994, Malawi was just emerging from 30 years of autocratic rule by Dr. Hastings Banda.  Banda, ironically a highly qualified physician before he entered politics, resolutely refused to acknowledge that HIV/AIDS existed in his country.  The result was that when he left power, Malawi was a good ten years behind the threat and today has one of the higher rates of incidence on the continent.

In marked contrast, President Musevini of Uganda has made a personal commitment to speaking out forcefully and frequently.  Indeed, when I visited Uganda late in 2000, I was told that the President never makes a speech without some mention of HIV/AIDS.  His Cabinet Ministers and other government officials follow suit.  But in Uganda the leadership comes not just from political leaders.  It is pervasive.  Religious, cultural, and yes, business leaders are active participants in the effort.  Perhaps most significantly, prominent individuals in Uganda have chosen to speak openly about their own experiences with HIV/AIDS.  As a result, Uganda is one of only two countries in Africa and one of only three countries in the developing world where the prevalence rate is in decline.

How can business leaders in Sierra Leone lead in the fight against HIV/AIDS?  Let me suggest just two ways.

First, you can begin now to formulate your own policy for addressing the HIV/AIDS crisis in your own work place.  As I noted earlier, we do not yet know the magnitude of the crisis in Sierra Leone, but we do know that HIV/AIDS is here.  There is no better time than now, right now, today to begin learning how to deal with it, how to protect your business and how to help your work force.

We do not know how to cure HIV/AIDS but we do know how to prevent it, and in order to protect your investment you need to assure that you and your workers know how to prevent it.  That means investing in awareness programs, making condoms readily available to your employees, and talking frankly about subjects that we usually are not comfortable addressing.  In many cases it will mean questioning and confronting cultural norms.  I don’t underestimate the difficulty of doing so, but to do otherwise will, quite literally, mean killing your culture.

You also need to know how you will deal with employees who already have or will contract the virus.  It is essential that employees know they will not be discriminated against because they are HIV positive and that their colleagues understand that they are not at risk because they are in the same workplace as someone who is HIV positive.  Discrimination against HIV infected persons is wrong;  it is ignorant; and it will drive the threat underground, making it that much more difficult to attack.

At my embassy, we have already sought professional advice as to how to best develop an awareness and counseling program for our employees.  As that program becomes more clearly defined, I will be pleased to share it with any member of this Chamber.

Second, you need to make HIV/AIDS a prominent part of your dialogue with government.  HIV/AIDS is too important an issue to be left to politicians, but government must be part of the solution.  I know that as individuals and as a Chamber you regularly address government on questions such as tariffs and taxes or electricity supply.  These issues are vital to the health of your businesses and the broader economy. Is dealing with a disease that would deprive you of your work force, your markets and the very stability of your social fabric any less vital?  Sierra Leone desperately needs new private investment, foreign and domestic, if it is to revitalize its economy.  There will be no such investment if the principal factors, corruption and instability, which have driven it away over past decades are replaced by the equally devastating menace of unchecked growth of HIV/AIDS prevalence. 

HIV/AIDS is not just a medical issue.  It is not just a political or social issue.  It is a matter for all of society and not the least for the business community.  I urge you to embrace this struggle and to assure that the Chamber and all of its members become leaders in finding the solution.  I thank you for your attention and your interest.