WASHINGTON — U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan encouraged American business leaders to speak up "loud and often" about the AIDS epidemic as a way to fight the disease.
Because businessmen often are respected community leaders, their support for efforts to help eliminate AIDS have wide impact, he said.
"Silence and stigma drive the (HIV) virus underground and fuel its spread. Speaking up helps to halt it," Annan said in remarks prepared for an address today to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Annan encouraged businesses to use their marketing skills to help educate the public about AIDS through product packaging. He said companies can boost commitment to the cause by linking their products to "a goal of social responsibility."
Businesses also can offer their expertise in public affairs and human resources to AIDS organizations and community groups that frequently lack such skills.
Inside the workplace, businesses with employees in developing nations should draw up AIDS policies and programs that can "become a cornerstone of our global prevention campaign," Annan said. Employers also can offer confidential AIDS testing, counseling and treatment for staff members or their relatives.
Business leaders have several reasons for wanting to fight AIDS, Annan said. The disease often kills people in the prime of their lives; more than four out of five people who die of AIDS are under 50.
"These deaths leach profits out of businesses and economics," he said. "The loss of every breadwinner's income reduces the access of dependents to health care, education and nutrition — leaving them in turn more vulnerable to infection. This cycle need be repeated only a few times, and AIDS destroys an entire community."
AIDS also undermines global stability, Annan said, noting that 42 percent of U.S. exports go to markets in developing nations. While the disease has hit Africa disproportionately hard, its affect is worldwide:
—In the Caribbean, AIDS is the leading cause of death among people ages 15 to 44.
—In Russia, there were more new infections in 2000 than in all previous years combined.
—India will soon be the country with the highest number of people infected with the HIV virus that causes AIDS. China is not far behind, and by 2005, the two countries will have 10 million or more infected citizens.
"By joining the global fight against HIV/AIDS, your business will see benefits on its bottom line," Annan said. "You will see direct benefits, such as protecting investment and reducing risk. And you will make less tangible, but no less important, gains in assets such as reputation and customer loyalty."
Annan has established a special global fund of up to $10 billion to help countries contend with the impact of AIDS, but so far, only the United States has offered money — $200 million, which many critics say is too little. Annan said he was certain other countries will follow, and he encouraged business leaders to make private donations.
Harvard University has estimated that AIDS already has cost the world more than $500 billion, he said.
"So $10 billion a year to defeat it seems fairly reasonable — in fact, a bargain," he said.
On the Net: UNAIDS: www.unaids.org
U.S. Chamber of Commerce: www.uschamber.org/default.htm