Chairman of the Jamaica Business Council on HIV/ AIDS, Rodney Davis, yesterday implored business leaders to institute workplace programmes to deal with the threat of HIV/AIDS in their organisations as it poses a danger to the local economy.

Speaking at the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica (PSOJ) Job Creation Breakfast, held at the Terra Nova Hotel, St. Andrew, Mr. Davis warned that projections for growth and development could be imperiled by HIV/AIDS if plans to tackle the disease are not on the agenda of small, medium and large enterprises.

Move decisively

"Like the shrewd and savvy business people we are ... we must move decisively to neutralise it (HIV/AIDS) before it has a negative impact on our bottom line and on our society in general," Mr. Davis appealed.

He pointed out that, if left unmonitored, the virus could escalate from the current infection of 25,000 Jamaicans, to 125,000 within two years.