HIV/AIDS in BPOs
Cause of Concern
By M.D. dela Cruz Tan

BAD BOOM?

Interestingly, the growth in the number of the infected coincides with the continuing boom of the BPO industry in the Philippines.

Defined by the Gartner Dataquest as "the delegation of one or more IT-intensive business processes to an external provider that, in turn, owns, administrates, and manages the selected process or processes based on defined and measurable performance metrics,” BPO consists of four main categories: 1) supply chain management; 2) operations; 3) business administration; and 4) sales, marketing, and customer care. 

BIG BOOM. BPOs need to respond to the sexual and reproductive health of their employees. ASAP.

According to the Business Processing Association of the Philippines (BPAP, bpap.org), “the Philippines raked in BPO revenues of $2.1 billion in 2006, placing third only behind India and China.  “That's up 62% over the $1.3 billion it gained in 2004, and a huge increase from the start of the decade when the outsourcing industry in Metro Manila employed just 2,400 people, and the industry had revenues of merely $24 million.”

The Philippine BPO industry is expected to earn $11 billion by end-2001, providing employment to, as stated earlier, 900,000 people.
Most of the BPO facilities are currently located in Metro Manila and Cebu City, though the regional areas of Baguio City, Bacolod City, Cagayan de Oro City, Davao City, Dumaguete City, and Iloilo City, among others, are fast becoming preferred destinations.

The interesting thing is, with the growth of the industry, more focus is given only in further growing the industry, e.g. the Philippine government is offering “significant fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to attract foreign direct investments (FDIs) in these industries as part of the 2006 Investment Priorities Plan.”  Not much, if any at all, is done to look after those already in the industry – at least not as far as sexual and reproductive health is concerned.

Interestingly, the national response to HIV and AIDS used to be pioneering, e.g. the Philippines passed the Philippine AIDS Prevention and Control Act in 1998, before others, especially in Asia and the Pacific, even acknowledge the prevalent existence of the issue.  The Act called for the establishment of the PNAC, the country’s highest HIV/AIDS policymaking body, which developed the Philippines’ AIDS Medium Term Plan: 2005–2010, now serving as a “national road map toward universal access to prevention, treatment, care, and support, outlining country-specific targets, opportunities, and obstacles along the way, as well as culturally appropriate strategies to address them.”

Of course, having the law and implementing it are completely different things, e.g. even as it attempts to provide antiretroviral (ARV) treatment available free of charge, only 10% of HIV-infected Filipinos were receiving it as of 2006, according to the UNAIDS.

Key industry players, too, focus on deemed job-related health concerns, again not sexual and reproductive in nature, e.g. the Call Center Association of the Philippines (CCAP), when it conducted its own "health and wellness" study, was only interested in “coming up with validated data” on the reports about the health risks caused by working night shifts (in BPOs)”; and the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP, tucp.org.ph), in its own report on the BPO industry, noted only the “possible rise in the prevalence of mental disorder, and musco-skeletal diseases” due to the growing number of call centers in the country.

Not a single BPO player, too, has programs specifically targeting the sexual and reproductive health of their employees.

And this is why it is a persisting cause of concern.

TALL TASK

Already, the government has been “intensifying its awareness campaign (concerning) HIV and AIDS to control its spread in the general population.”  In a Philippine Star report, Dr. Yolanda Oliveros, director of the DOH’s National Center for Disease Prevention and Control, says that the NEC is “now conducting a survey on the lifestyle of call center agents because of concerns over their health.”  And while the survey showed that call center agents, in particular, are more “prone to develop hypertension and diabetes, primarily because of smoking, a sedentary lifestyle, and an unhealthy diet,” it also noted the presence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) so that NEC is also taking a closer look at their sexual practices.

Asking why this is so is easy, and the answers are actually aplenty, even if most of them are hypothetical, and largely anecdotal.  In a Guys4Men.com forum discussing why “Prevalent ba HIV sa Call Centers?”, for example, those who responded said it’s because “maraming guwapo sa call centers, kaya sila-sila na lang (a lot of good looking guys in call centers, so they have sex among themselves)”; then there’s “you go home to sleep just as everybody goes to work – have sex before sleep, masarap itulog (good for sleeping)”; and then there’s “mga pa-mhinta nasa call center, kaya nagkakantutan (butch gay guys work there, and they have sex among themselves).”  And then there are such observations as the erratic schedule depriving BPO-working MSMs other ways to mingle with the larger MSM community, so that HIV infection may be easily done internally considering that they can only have sexual activities with their fellow BPO workers; or that for others, BPO work may be stressful, and sex may be a way to relax for them, which, when linked with the former reasoning, means keeping the infection within the industry.

Others rightfully complain about highlighting the BPO industry – just as an aggravated Guys4Men.com member correctly said in response to a forum: “This is a demolition job!  Why pinpoint our industry, when other industries are affected by HIV, too!”

And just as PNAC advocacy and education officer Dr. Susan Gregorio stressed in the same Philippine Star report, “this is not to say that it is acceptable to generalize that call center agents, among others in the BPO industry, have risky sexual behavior.”  “It just so happened that they were tested for HIV because they were applying for work abroad (in countries that require HIV testing),” she was quoted as saying.  “They should not be discriminated.  Maybe if we test the rest of the population, people from other sectors will also test positive for HIV.”

Perhaps a good way to make light of the issue.

Especially considering USAID’s observations on why the Philippines is in danger of a broader HIV/AIDS epidemic.
After all, that there are 10 who tested positive at all, should, in itself, be a major cause of concern.  And to think this is only talking about those who underwent tests, not even including those they may have had sex with, too, in their workplace, if not in their industry.