On the Job With HIV

Munthali moved to Baltimore this year to start the HIV workplace program at the headquarters and help make its way to the countries in which CRS works.

Other organizations are asking Munthali how CRS created its policy and what challenges the organization has faced. Many groups are worried that if they also offer complete coverage of treatment, it will be too expensive to sustain. But the coverage has cost less than 20 percent of CRS's overall HIV workplace budget, Munthali said.

"That helps other agencies learn this is something affordable and the cost benefit is a healthier staff that is well informed and able to contribute to the work," she said.

Petesch spends a lot of his time on the same issue.

He first took action on HIV/AIDS in the workplace when his best friend, who worked for a supposedly progressive lobbying firm, died in 1987 of complications from AIDS. Petesch soon found out that his friend's boss's response was to drain her pool because his friend had been in it during a company party a few months earlier.

Although people have progressed in their understanding of AIDS, there is still a stigma surrounding it, he said. Policies such as CRS's will help eradicate that.

Over the years more companies have "mainstreamed" HIV/AIDS policies, he said, to educate employees and managers.

"People are living longer and working longer, and that just puts more of a spotlight on some of the workplace challenges that need to be addressed in these policies," Petesch said. When he advises companies to write the policies, they usually include a nondiscrimination portion and a part that urges people with HIV/AIDS to come forward and reminds them of what they need to do to get an accommodation -- such as a flexible schedule or telecommuting options -- if they need it. It also usually includes an education portion to reinforce that people with HIV and AIDS are "perfectly able and safe to work."

As Munthali has proven: She works full time and is getting her master's degree in public health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. "Treatment has saved my life," she said.