A tripartite summit aimed at developing a unified approach by government, labour and business to tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS in the African mining industry has again been postponed.
The summit was initially planned for December 2001 in Johannesburg but was rescheduled to February 2002. It was again postponed to Nov. 26, and in late November it was postponed indefinitely.
South Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) says the postponement raises questions about commitment of government and the South African Chamber of Mines to combating the disease.
The postponement means efforts to fight the disease will be left to individual mining companies in lieu of an industry-wide strategy.
Several mining companies have recently signed HIV/AIDS agreements with unions, and some of these make provision for free anti-retroviral medicines to infected workers, among other services.
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