What employees know

A 2002 survey of UN employees regarding their knowledge and attitudes about HIV/AIDS revealed some interesting findings.

• Fewer than half of staff report having received the UN produced booklet on HIV/AIDS and of those who did report receiving the booklet, almost a third say they have not read it.
• Staff reporting at least some familiarity with various UN policies on HIV/AIDS ranges from 27-35%.
• Just over half report knowing where to go for Voluntary Confidential Counselling and Testing.
• Low overall participation is reported for all UN learning activities on HIV/AIDS.
• Knowledge for treatments for HIV/AIDS, use of female condoms and living and working with people who are HIV positive is quite low.

• 12% of those who responded to the survey said they were afraid they might be HIV-positive but did not want to know their HIV status.
• 41% of respondents did not know their HIV status because they feared that seeking information would lead to negative judgements
• 32% said they feared the UN would not keep their HIV test results confidential
• 96 employees said they were living with HIV/AIDS but were afraid to reveal this at work.

Despite these signs of the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, a resounding 95% of UN employees say that people living with HIV/AIDS should be allowed to continue to work in the UN. In an environment of silence, the fears associated with HIV/AIDS can sometimes seem more compelling than the tolerance of the UN workforce.

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• Results from learning needs assessment on HIV/AIDS in the UN workplace
• The entire survey from the United Nations Learning Needs Assessment on HIV/AIDS