Preventing the Spread of HIV/AIDS

Changing the course of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic requires the courage to tackle challenging social issues, the commitment to sustain long-term investments and the determination to push the limits of existing responses.

In 1982, the Levi Strauss Foundation (LSF) became the first U.S. corporate foundation to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Since then, we have evolved our strategies to match the ever-changing needs of those impacted. We have adapted lessons and pioneered new approaches to address the changing face of what has become a global pandemic. We have contributed more than $38 million to HIV/AIDS service organizations in more than 40 countries. To date, few global companies outside the pharmaceutical sector have placed the weight of their corporate citizenship commitments together with their global giving strategy to comprehensively address this critical global issue.

Levi Strauss and Co. (LS&CO.) and LSF have led the business response to HIV/AIDS since the virus emerged, with a particular focus on addressing the needs of workers, improving the workplace environment and promoting the social change necessary to improve access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care.

Stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and those who are most vulnerable to infection are both powerful drivers and staggering consequences of the epidemic. They pose serious obstacles to the effective delivery of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care services. As such, we believe that protection of human rights is critical to our approach and our work. As long as human rights abuses related to HIV/AIDS are not adequately addressed, vulnerability to infection – as well as disparity in access to critical services – will continue to be rooted in social, economic and gender inequalities.

More than two decades into the battle against the epidemic, it is clear that improving access to HIV/AIDS education, treatment and care requires an unrelenting focus on social change. Policy advocacy, law reform and other support to strengthen local workplaces are critical to ensure that people living with HIV/AIDS are treated with dignity, enjoy the right to work, and have access to comprehensive HIV/AIDS services free of stigma and discrimination. As our company continues to advance our efforts to reach our own employees and their families with much needed HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programs, LSF works to create a supportive environment that ensures those services are available and acceptable without stigma or discrimination.

With regard to HIV/AIDS, we fund the following categories of work in the countries where LS&CO. has a business presence:

Expand access to treatment

Policy advocacy, litigation and community mobilization that seeks to make essential medicines affordable and accessible
Advocacy to ensure broader coverage of HIV/AIDS treatment and care by insurance providers

Address stigma and discrimination in laws, policies and health-care practices

Policy advocacy, litigation or redress mechanisms for persons facing discrimination and abuse on the basis of real or perceived HIV/AIDS status
Innovations to address stigma and discrimination in health care settings

Promote best practices in the workplace

Support for business coalitions to advance best practices in workplace HIV/AIDS programs

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