LBCH counts one year of HIV and AIDS awareness creation

• Looks forward to enhanced activity in 2013

At its recent AGM, the Lanka Business Coalition on HIV and AIDs re-elected Kishu Gomes as Chairman to spearhead the Association’s action plan to further heights in 2013.

Year 2012 marked a year of enhanced activity both in workplace and public awareness creation. Several member companies conducted workplace seminars with the help of LBCH’s pool of workplace educators who provide knowledge sharing and training to new members.

LBCH embarked on enhancing public awareness through a creative campaign and a new informative website and also launched a Facebook App to virally “pass on awareness and not HIV” to mark World AIDS Day.

The campaign idea which was based on the well-known game of passing the pillow was used symbolically in initiating new members and passing on awareness to workforces among the Coalition’s 70+ members.

The network’s Asia-Pacific President Steven Grant graced the campaign launch while ILO’s Country Director Donglin Li launched the website. The Coalition also made an alliance with AmCham to access its membership and entered into a strategic partnership with Reckitt Benckiser to sponsor awareness creation activities in 2013, while tapping Bates Strategic Alliance for creative and communications expertise.  

Two new Directors, Nadija Tambiah of John Keells Holdings and Nimal Gunewardena of Bates Strategic Alliance, were appointed in succession to Lalith Ramanayake and Dr. Chris Nonis who resigned during the year. Anirban Ghosh Dastidar of SCB continued as a Director.

In 2013, LBCH plans to further its awareness programmes with the help of partners, increase its span of member companies and support them with best practices in knowledge sharing and workplace policy implementation.

LBCH is a coalition of corporates which partners with organisations such as the National STD/AIDS Control Programme of the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Labor, ILO, UNAIDS, Chambers of Commerce, and Employers Federation to address the critical issue of HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention so as to ensure a healthy workforce for the nation.