A study of the differences in the relationship between HIV/AIDS prevalence and related costs in the mining and financial sectors in South Africa

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: By understanding the costs of HIV/AIDS, businesses can understand the incentives for preventing and treating the disease better. This report primarily investigates whether there is a difference in the relationship between HIV/AIDS prevalence rates and related costs in different sectors in South Africa. With an HIV prevalence ratio of approximately 10:1 for the mining and financial sectors, it is difficult to motivate that more research should be done on the impact of HIV/AIDS on the financial sector. However, if the study indicates a higher cost ratio between the two sectors it could increase the priority of the epidemic in the financial sector, giving rise to a bigger incentive to fight the epidemic. The estimated HIV/AIDS-related cost of an infected manager is R120 000 compared to the cost of R4 600 for an infected unskilled employee. From this analysis it is estimated that the HIV prevalence ratio between highly skilled and semi- and unskilled labour is 1:2.5, while the HIV cost ratio between the different skill levels is 1:0.2. This clearly indicates that there could be a significant difference between the HIV prevalence ratio and the HIV cost ratio for different levels of skills.From the Absa and AngloGold average salary information reviewed, the assumption was made that the Absa employees are more skilled than the AngloGold employees. With the knowledge of this difference in skill levels between the two companies in the different sectors, and the information above regarding the difference in HIV/AIDS-related costs for different skill levels, it is possible that the HIV/AIDS-related costs in the financial sector could be in line with the costs in the mining sector.Using HIV prevalence as an indication of the impact of the disease on the financial sector, a high-level cost estimate could be R150.9 million, compared to R3 985 million if the difference in the relationship between HIV/AIDS prevalence and related costs are taken into account. These materially different estimates could cause companies in the financial sector to make incorrect decisions regarding HIV/AIDS budgets for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, as incorrect indicators of the impact of the epidemic on the profit of the organisation are used.