AIDS demands a response from business because it is an issue for business, says Australia's AIDS ambassador, Murray Proctor.
Most people affected by the disease are young adults in their productive years, Mr Proctor told the Fiji-Australia Business Council forum in Nadi yesterday.
He said absenteeism, staff replacement and training all cost business.
"Workplace morale suffered," he said.
Mr Proctor said the situation could be worse and there would be an economic snowballing effect "as fewer goods and services are purchased, markets weaken and AIDS takes the economy downward spiral".
"It undermines the prosperity and coherence of the communities in which our businesses operate."
He linked AIDS to labour mobility. "Across the globe, HIV hotspots coincide with sites where mobile men with money are found," Mr Proctor said.
He said HIV risk was high at ports, along trucking routes and at economic enclaves where male workers were often living away from their wives and families for long periods and engaging in risky behaviour, usually involving alcohol and sex.
"More often than not a sex industry springs up to serve the seafarers, the truck drivers or men engaged in extractive industries such as mining and timber.
But he said HIV did not limit itself to those high risk sites. "As the epidemic evolves, men take HIV back to their wives and girlfriends who can pass it to their babies and the diseases became entrenched in communities."
He said HIV could also have a significant impact on household income.
"When symptoms appear, individuals may become incapable of working."
Mr Proctor said HIV infected people and family members could be stigmatised and lose their jobs.
"During this period of illness, the loss of income and the cost of caring for a family member might impoverish a household."
