Ending discrimination against HIV infected persons in the workplace and promoting behaviour change were the issues at focus at a Banks DIH, Guyana Rice Develop-ment Board (GRDB) and General Workers Union (GWU) seminar on Tuesday.

The one-day seminar, held at the Banks DIH Conference room, saw the participation of over 20 employees of Banks DIH, GRDB and the GWU.

Guyana HIV/AIDS Reduction Programme (GHARP) Officer Gwyneth King told the seminar participants that stigma and discrimination are among the concerns in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

King noted that companies are encouraged to have workplace programmes to address AIDS, since it is a threat to the company's productivity, profitability and the welfare of all employees.

The disease can also impact the retention of a stable, skilled workforce. She said sickness as a result of the disease can also lead to increased absenteeism and staff turnover, reduced supply of labour and declining morale. Some 20 agencies throughout the country so far have embarked on workplace HIV programmes. At the end of the seminar there was a pledge to develop a working committee to address HIV and AIDS in the workplace and King said that she was willing to assist that committee.

An estimated 440,000 persons are living with HIV/AIDS in the Caribbean and an estimated 20,000 adults and children are infected in Guyana, according to Agriculture Ministry Focal Point Officer Raul Khan.

He quoted from a recent Trinidad Guardian article which said that close to one million people in the Carib-bean will die from HIV/AIDS by 2009, a year in which there will also be 243,000 more people infected with HIV and 334,000 new cases of AIDS in the Caribbean.

"For a long time, HIV/ AIDS was viewed as purely a health issue. Yet HIV/AIDS has implications that reach far beyond health - including great impacts on agricultural and food production systems," he said.

GWU President Norris Witter called on the participants to take the fight to the HIV pandemic and said that the fight requires behavioural change, in that, the participants must adopt an appropriate lifestyle to bring transformation in themselves and others. He said that the country cannot afford to have any division in the fight on HIV and AIDS.

GRDB General Manager Jagnarine Singh indicated that HIV is a workplace issue not only because it affects labour and productivity, but also because the workplace has a vital role to play in the wider struggles to limit the disease. The disease threatens the livelihoods of many workers and those who depend on them - families, communities and enterprises, Singh said.

According to the general manager, of the 1.2 billion young women and men who will enter the labour force over the next decade, many will be affected by HIV and AIDS, directly or indirectly. In heavily hit countries, the loss of household income puts pressure on children, particularly girls, to discontinue schooling in order to help supplement family income or to care for the sick, he said. The world of work, he emphasized will have to adjust to the approximately 14 million orphans affected by AIDS, many of them deprived of schooling or adult mentoring, and who will reach working age in the next decade.

He noted as well that some 40 million adults and children are living with HIV and AIDS and nine out of every ten are adults in their productive and reproductive prime.

Quoting from a recent United Nations document, he said there are four main factors that make workers particularly vulnerable to HIV and AIDS: the lack of opportunities for decent work, discrimination, lack of influence and representation and poor social protection.