John Keells educates over 100,000 persons via HIV & AIDS awareness campaign

Session at Police Training School Elpitiya

Army officials participating in a John Keells HIV & AIDS awareness campaign

John Keells HIV & AIDS Master Trainers conduct awareness programme for Jetwing Hotel employees

The John Keells HIV & AIDS Awareness Campaign, a long-term CSR initiative of the John Keells Group recently passed the milestone of sensitizing 100,000 persons on HIV & AIDS since project inception, the highest recorded impact created by a private entity in Sri Lanka.  

The initiative is aimed at prevention through education and designed to cover awareness among Group staff, various communities around the Group’s business locations and the general public. 
Launched in June 2005, it was the first such campaign to be undertaken by a local corporate in Sri Lanka and has sustained its HIV & AIDS Awareness Campaign for more than a decade.
The campaign has been partnered by government and non-governmental bodies including National STD/AIDS Control Programme of the Ministry of Health (NSACP), International Labour Organisation (ILO), the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) and Positive Women’s Network. 

Speaking on the value of the John Keells HIV and AIDS awareness campaign, Dr. Sisira Liyanage, Director, National STD/AIDS Control Programme said, “National STD/AIDS Control Programme truly appreciates John Keells’ effort to support HIV prevention over the years by sensitizing not only employees of the John Keells Group but also staff of other corporates, hotels and factories, members of the Sri Lanka police and security forces, prisons and educational institutions and rehabilitated ex combatants. We hope you will continue this effort to prevent HIV and maintain the good health 
of the workforce.”  

As at end June 2016, 101,061 persons were sensitized under the awareness campaign including businesses, hotels, security forces and police, prisons and educational institutions. The HIV and AID Awareness campaign covers topics including the nature of HIV and AIDS, how HIV can and cannot be transmitted, how it can be prevented or managed, discrimination faced by HIV positive persons, and how and where voluntary counselling and testing can be done.  John Keells was also featured in the ‘Best Practices by Private Sector in Disease Prevention and Management - South West Asia Region’ in 2010 compiled by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Friends of the Fund South and West Asia. 

The most recent and novel initiative of the John Keells Group was the launch of an interactive web-based learning tool, which is available free of charge to any member of the public over the age of 18 years on the Group’s corporate social responsibility website (www.johnkeellsfoundation.com), effectively taking to the public domain the Group’s decade-long commitment to prevent the spread of HIV & AIDS through education. 

The E-module comprises five modules that cover critical subjects including What is HIV & AIDS, How HIV is transmitted and not transmitted, How can HIV & AIDS be prevented, What are the treatments available, Stigma and Discrimination faced by persons living with HIV or AIDS, The policies on HIV & AIDS, and Where to seek help. Due to the mature content and subject matter, only those over 18 years old will be permitted to access the e-module. The current version is available in English and Sinhala languages, while a Tamil version is in development.  

The John Keells HIV and AIDS Awareness Campaign is offered free-of-charge to requesting organizations. The sessions are conducted by John Keells Master Trainers on HIV & AIDS who were certified by the ILO and EFC. For more information, please visit our website – 
www.johnkeellsfoundation.com or call 011 2306172.