Assessment of workplace HIV program at the Raiply factory: Eldoret, Kenya

Abstract

Background: The HIV pandemic is having a negative impact on the workplace. In order to address HIV prevention and control among its employees, Raiply Factory in Eldoret instituted a workplace HIV program that has been developed and implemented at the Factory since 2007. Workplace programs refer to a range of company-based interventions including the institution of an HIV and AIDS policy, VCT, and provision of ART that are a response to the epidemic. The Raiply program has been providing different interventions at the workplace and therefore there was need for its assessment to ascertain if it was meeting the intended purpose. Objectives: The overall study objective was to carry out an assessment of the Raiply workplace HIV program while the specific objectives were to: determine employee perceptions of the program; establish employees’ utilization of services provided under the Raiply workplace HIV program; and identify its implementation challenges. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that entailed quantitative data collection and analysis. The study aimed to assess the Raiply workplace HIV program and was conducted in June and July 2017. Stratified sampling was used to select 333 study participants based on department/section and gender stratum. Using a structured questionnaire, data was collected on demographic and employment profile, employee perceptions towards the program, utilization of its services, and implementation challenges. All data analysis was done using SPSS V.17. Results: The study found that employees’ perception towards the workplace HIV program was positive as majority were able to seek (94.2%; n=302) and utilize (70.2%; n=231) the services and generally believed the workplace program had made a positive contribution. Majority (98.5%; n=320) of the respondents were aware of the workplace HIV program’s existence at Raiply. Knowledge of HIV status was high at 96.7% (n=321) of respondents. Other findings included absence from work due to illness which was reported by a significant 81.5% (n=264) respondents, an indication that this posed a challenge to the Factory. This was despite the finding that 94.1% (n=304) of respondents perceived that this absenteeism had reduced since establishment of the workplace HIV program. The main implementation challenges cited were fear of one’s status being known (73.3%, n=209) and lack of management support (39.3%, n=112). Conclusion: The workplace HIV program had led to high level of awareness and utilization of HIV services. Employee absence episodes emerged as a major issue due to the high number of episodes reported at the Factory and this requires specific interventions to address the problem. The findings of this study can help workplace organizations that have initiated workplace HIV programs carry out assessments of their programs to determine if they are meeting the intended purpose. Recommendation: The Raiply Management should continue supporting the workplace HIV program and sustain the high levels of awareness and service utilization. There is need to monitor the trends in absenteeism in order to institute mitigation measures. Future research can target more organizations with workplace HIV programs in order to show benefits better and give more definitive results from the employees’ perspective.