Press Release

    Olam supports World AIDS Day

    Press release

    The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is “Getting to Zero”.  It’s the first year of a four-year global campaign to get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths.  To achieve this ambitious goal, the global community must work together to bring about universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care. 

    To play our part in Getting to Zero, Olam has organised several World AIDS Day events and longer-term HIV/AIDS interventions across Africa, contributing over $157,000 to support the global effort.  While our activities target the specific needs of the local population, our interventions generally include awareness raising campaigns, training for healthcare providers, support services for voluntary testing and counseling, links to medical support, workshops to educate communities on prevention and treatment, distribution of condoms, etc.  In total, our HIV/AIDS efforts this year will reach over 185,000 people.

    Highlighting a few of our programmes:

    Tanzania – Making prevention and treatment accessible

    In Tanzania our activities will include training youth on prevention, sensitization of healthcare providers to render better treatment to HIV infected people, and blood donation services.  But this is only a small part of our health support efforts.  We are partnering with GIZ and EngenderHealth to meet the complex health care needs associated with HIV/AIDS in our Mtwara cashew factory, which employs 3,000 people—98% of whom are women.  The health support programme includes the training of employees to act as health resource persons, quarterly voluntary testing and counseling, a factory health facility, and an innovative healthcare scheme for all employees and their families.

    Gabon – Raising awareness in grand fashion

    Olam Gabon is partnering with the First Lady of Gabon to raise awareness through TV adverts, and the distribution of T-shirts, condoms, and post cards.  The programme, boasting three celebrity participants, will be run in concurrence with the Central Africa Football Cup and continue for three months.

    Cameroon – Sensitising Arabica coffee growing communities

    HIV/AIDS is a serious health concern in the North-West Region of Cameroon where the prevalence rate ranks amongst the highest in the country.  OLAM—through our ongoing project to promote sustainable Arabica coffee in North-West Cameroon—will implement a programme aimed at curbing HIV infections by sensitising the rural population on the dangers of HIV/AIDS, reducing stigmatisation, and encouraging voluntary testing and access to treatment.  The 30 village communities in the Arabica coffee project are the focal point of this initiative.  Targeting these villages will ensure reaching 4,000 of the region’s most vulnerable population.

    While Olam has supported the global community’s efforts to combat AIDS in the past, we have ramped up our commitment this year.  Not only will we far exceed our reach of previous years, but many of our programmes are designed to achieve deeper and meaningful impact on communities.  Through developing more systemic and progressive health campaigns, we hope to contribute to the global will to stem the tide of the impact of HIV/AIDS in Africa.

    About Olam International Limited

    Olam International is a leading global integrated supply chain manager of agricultural products and food ingredients, sourcing 20 products with a direct presence in 65 countries and supplying them to over 11,600 customers. With direct sourcing and processing in most major producing countries for its various products, Olam has built a global leadership position in many of its businesses, including cocoa, coffee, cashew, sesame, rice, cotton and wood products. Headquartered in Singapore and listed on the SGX-ST on February 11, 2005, Olam currently ranks among the top 40 largest listed companies in Singapore in terms of market capitalisation and is a component stock in the Straits Times Index (STI), MSCI Singapore Free, S&P Agribusiness Index and the DAXglobal Agribusiness Index. Olam is the only Singapore firm to be named in the 2009 Forbes Asia Fabulous 50, an annual list of 50 big-cap and most profitable firms in the region. It is also the first and only Singapore company to be named in the 2009 lists for the Global Top Companies for Leaders and the Top Companies for Leaders in the Asia Pacific region by Hewitt Associates, the RBL Group and Forbes. More information on Olam can be found at www.olamgroup.com

    Olam International Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability

    Olam’s sustainability initiatives are closely aligned with the core business and aim to make a meaningful impact on the countries and communities in which the company operates. Olam has 110 Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability programmes across 30 countries which impact the lives of 1.5 million farmers through income generation, food security, local infrastructure development, health awareness and primary education programmes.

    Contact: Dash Douglas, Associate General Manager Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability – Africa

    Tel: +233 307 010 977      Email: crs@olamnet.com

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