Client: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Duration: 2005-2007
Region: Sub-Saharan Africa
Country: Lesotho
Solutions: Global Health Economic Growth
The apparel industry is Lesotho’s largest private sector employer with approximately 46,000 people employed. In 2005, it was estimated that one-third, or 15,000, of these workers were HIV positive. Most apparel industry employees are young women, and it is this group whose risk of HIV infection is greatest. The Association of Lesotho Employers identified HIV/AIDS as one of the major issues threatening the sector, and The ComMark Trust—funded by the former U.K. Department for International Development (now called Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) to make commodity and service markets work for the poor in Southern Africa—identified the textile and apparel industry as one of its focal points. The Apparel Lesotho Alliance to Fight AIDS (ALAFA) project was born out of that process. A research team tasked with designing a strategy to address HIV/AIDS in the industry found not only that an intervention was feasible, but also that it was vital to the sustainability of the apparel industry, to save an estimated 1,850 lives per year in the industry and increase productivity. Both the business and human cases for a long-term intervention were strong.
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