“It is bad enough that people are dying of AIDS, but no one should die of ignorance” Stated Elizabeth Taylor and John Keells AIDS Awareness Programmes echo this very concept as their fundamental belief. Starting this initiative in 2005, John Keells has empowered and enlightened more than fifty thousand people across diverse social levels, job profiles, and religious cultural backgrounds and has impacted both males and females.

According to the UNAIDS classification, Sri Lanka is a country of “low level HIV epidemic”, but there is potential for spread.1 It is a known fact that the great majority of persons affected by HIV/AIDS are in their most productive age. With an infection rate of 0.02% however in our estimated total population of 16,929,700, an estimated 2,800 total people are infected with HIV. An estimated 200 people die each year from HIV/AIDS in Sri Lanka and there are larger numbers who are silent carriers. Most often complacency and ignorance hinder people from getting the proper healthcare, treatment and support needed. In addition to that social discrimination and stigmas are feared when diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.

Hence in the Millennium Development Goals (2005) Sri Lanka rightly identifies HIV/AIDS prevention measures in the workplace as a key priority for development. The education of HIV and AIDS to the Sri Lankan work force plays a vital role in global efforts to end the AIDS epidemic. Despite the fact that HIV transmission can be prevented, each year hundreds of thousands of young people become infected with the virus and our country adds to its numbers.

John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH), being the largest listed conglomerate in Sri Lanka, recognized early the potential impact of HIV/AIDS, particularly on social and economic development, both on the business level, as well as on the national economic level.

The John Keells HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign is championed by John Keells Foundation (JKF), which drives the CSR activities of the John Keells Group. It is a sustained initiative designed to cover awareness among employees of the John Keells Group, various vulnerable communities around the Group’s business locations and the general public. Launched in 2005, it was the first such campaign to be undertaken by a local corporate in Sri Lanka. The awareness project aims to inform people about the medical aspects of the disease while at the same time increasing their sensitivity towards the human/social dimension. The project is carried out in collaboration with the National STD/AIDS Control Programme of the Ministry of Health (NSACP), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC).

After conducting various workshops across the group, JKH took upon itself the vision to conduct these workshops for outside bodies. Providing young people with basic AIDS education enables them to protect themselves from becoming infected and thus Master trainers on HIV/AIDS have been active across the country working from Kilinochchi to Koggala with corporate communities, irrespective of gender or profession in providing awareness including factory workers. In addition JKF is also involved in working with government departments and organizations such as the CID, Army, & Air force. Awareness programmes are also carried out for any other community who request for it. One of the participants from a Kurunegala workshop stated that this was the first time she had attended an awareness session, and now she realises the importance of being aware of a disease that has the potential to wipe out nations.

The John Keells HIV/AIDS Awareness programmes are generally a 2 hour seminar with a Q & A sessions to increase audience participation. Feedback forms are obtained immediately after the programme in order to access impact. The Project aims to prevent the spread of HIV through conscious building awareness sessions. JKF objective for year 2012/2013 was to conduct awareness programmes covering a minimum of 12500 persons within and outside JKH and has outdone itself by crossing 50,000.

AIDS can be contained and with proper information and awareness we can reduce the amount of people we lose to this disease every day.