VW of SA's on-site Doctor invited to serve on World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on HIV/Aids

Volkswagen of SA Managing Director, David Powels, said he was "very proud" to hear that Dr Govender had been invited to serve on this top-level advisory forum. "This invitation serves as great recognition of Dr Govender's efforts to combat the HIV/Aids pandemic. I would like to express my sincere congratulations to him for his unending commitment to the healthcare needs of Volkswagen employees and the broader community."

Dr Govender admitted that he was surprised by the invitation, but was extremely grateful for the opportunity. He said: "I was really humbled by the invitation. Importantly, being able to influence decisions at such a high level will certainly add to my expertise in contributing to Volkswagen, my community, my country and now internationally, to Heads of State and CEO's."

He continued: "I must recognise the people who made this possible. They include the Volkswagen of SA Board and my immediate management for giving me an enabling environment to run strategic projects on HIV/Aids and tuberculosis (TB). More importantly, I've got such a wonderful band of people working in our Medical Centre - they are the people who've made this possible as they're involved in all the projects. I therefore credit my invitation to serve on the Global Agenda Council on HIV/Aids, to my immediate staff and Volkswagen."

After joining Volkswagen of SA as Manager of Corporate Health Services in 2001, Dr Govender was instrumental in implementing a comprehensive HIV/Aids Workplace Programme, which, in 2005, received an international award for Business Excellence in the Workplace from the Global Business Coalition on HIV/Aids.

Together with his staff, he has also run a successful TB Workplace Programme since 2002. This programme boasts a cure rate of 93% (the national cure rate is 56% and the World Health Organisation has a cure target of 85%).

The combination of HIV/Aids and TB posed huge healthcare challenges in South Africa, Dr Govender stressed. "I'm very concerned about TB and what it's doing to our population. In the presence of HIV, it's just so much worse. However, we are very aggressive in our case finding here at Volkswagen and that's why we've got such effective workplace programmes."

Dr Govender already has ties with the WEF through its Global Health Initiative (GHI), having been involved with the GHI's Beyond Big Business project, an endeavour to bring HIV/Aids workplace programmes to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa, and in his contribution to a toolkit to help South African companies tackle the TB crisis.

He has also assisted in the implementation of a Supplier Chain Programme for Volkswagen of SA, in collaboration with the International Labour Organisation and the South African Business Coalition on HIV/Aids (SABCOHA). Running from July 2005 to mid-2007, the project entailed the implementation of effective HIV/Aids programmes in eight of Volkswagen's supplier companies.

An upcoming extension of the Supplier Chain Programme will see the project rolled out to 40 local Volkswagen suppliers. Dr Govender
explained: "We've secured funding from SABCOHA to implement full HIV/Aids programmes in 40 of our local supplier chain companies. This will allow for the provision of free anti-retroviral treatment to employees at these companies for five years. It will be quite an extensive project and I'm very excited that we'll be starting with it soon."

Dr Govender's expertise in the field of HIV/Aids and TB has led to his recent selection to the board of SABCOHA. He is also a member of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality's HIV/Aids Council, the South Africa HIV/Aids Clinicians Society, is a member of the private sector committee for the GHI's Top TB Partnership, and represents Volkswagen of SA on the Global Business Coalition on HIV/Aids and the Eastern Cape Aids Council.

He is often invited to speak at conferences and other companies, and assists local doctors on a grassroots level.

In his spare time, Dr Govender is involved with his local Rotary chapter, where he places a particular emphasis on community upliftment projects like securing funding for computer labs in township schools.
Another recent project involved the provision of drinking water at a school in Uganda.

*The World Economic Forum is an independent international organization committed to improving the state of the world by engaging leaders in partnerships to shape global, regional and industry agendas.

To further its mission and strategic vision, the WEF has created the Global Agenda Councils, which are multi-stakeholder groups of the most innovative and relevant minds, for the purpose of advancing knowledge and collaboratively exploring solutions to the most important issues in the global arena, such as HIV/Aids.

For further information about the WEF, please go to:
http://www.weforum.org/en/index.htm