focusing on sub-Saharan Africa

Assisting our 4000 employees and their families in mitigating the HIV risk is important for the long-term sustainability of our business and the economic growth of sub-Saharan Africa. Our comprehensive workplace program combines prevention through encouraging safer behavior and changing attitudes, with treatment and education of HIV-positive workers on how to live safely with the illness through access to community-based care.

We are addressing the needs of the sub-Saharan region through several approaches. The StopAIDS program has now been implemented through our affiliates in Angola, Cameroon, Chad, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria. We are also supporting capacity building programs through our Africa Health Initiative and our affiliates.

Preventing and Treating HIV/AIDS Through StopAIDS
More than 375 peer educators and facilitators, selected from within ExxonMobil, have been trained by external experts at Population Services International and are delivering confidential adult health education. We have tracked the success of the program through a voluntary and confidential workplace survey. Its success is measured through a survey of employee knowledge, attitude, and practice, and the results are being used to identify local program gaps and needs. In 2007, average voluntary attendance of our employees in education sessions ranged from about 50 to 75 percent, which is considered to be a good participation rate for a voluntary program.

We do not test for HIV, and HIV status is not a factor in determining an employee’s ability to work. HIV/AIDS care and treatment are offered through our company-sponsored health plans and HIV/AIDS is addressed like other illnesses. Our employees and their families utilize community-based, confidential Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) centers for voluntary HIV testing, confidential counseling, and treatment. Community-based VCT centers have emerged in most urban areas in the five sub-Saharan African countries where we operate. In 2007, we extended the StopAIDS program to families, contractors, and surrounding communities of each affiliate.

StopAIDS coordinators in each country continue to provide updated information on the availability of voluntary counseling, testing facilities, and medical treatment. We encourage our affiliates’ StopAIDS groups to join nationally recognized organizations and networks to share best practices for addressing challenges associated with combating the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Our StopAIDS program is embedded in safety, health, environmental, and other company training systems and is managed by each participating country’s StopAIDS Committee.

Strengthening and Developing Local Health Care Capacity
In 2007, the StopAIDS coordinator in our joint venture in Cameroon and peer educators conducted an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign at a school. The event attracted more than 1000 students and teachers and addressed various topics, including myths and beliefs about HIV/AIDS. The focal point was taking responsibility for personal actions.

We are working in partnership with the Academic Alliance Foundation to train African physicians in the latest HIV/AIDS treatment and technology at the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University in Uganda. The Institute provides training for health care workers and researchers in effective prevention strategies, new diagnostic tools, and care and treatment protocols for infectious diseases. To date, more than 1000 African health care workers from 23 countries have been trained at the Institute.

In 2007, we continued to support Safe Blood for Africa in its efforts to implement blood quality programs in Angola, Equatorial Guinea, and Nigeria. For example, for the fourth year, we supported the ExxonMobil Nigerian National Training Institute, which provides training on safe blood practices to staff at blood centers, testing labs, and hospital transfusion services. We organized 23 trainings that included a total of 262 participants and addressed blood screening procedures according to the World Health Organization standard for HIV/AIDS, among other infections. In 2007, more than 50,000 HIV rapid test kits were distributed through the ExxonMobil Akwa Ibom Blood Relief Plan throughout Akwa Ibom state in Nigeria.

Over the past three years, Esso Angola has been sponsoring a behavioral-change program in Bengo province to educate the community on HIV/AIDS. The program’s goal is to reach 65 families per week through door-to-door health campaigns, and eventually educate the province’s entire population of approximately 100,000 people. As a result, more people are voluntarily being tested for HIV/AIDS. In 2007, our awareness campaign reached more than 13,000 people and nearly 3000 volunteered to get tested.