DaimlerChrysler Opens AIDS Program

DaimlerChrysler this week launched a program to tackle AIDS at its operations in South Africa and criticized the government’s approach to an epidemic that it said is hampering foreign investment.

DaimlerChrysler, together with Germany, will spend $746,000 establishing a program to combat AIDS among its 4,400-strong work force in South Africa and their families, a total of some 23,000 people, Christoph Kopke, the chief executive of the car maker’s South African unit, said in an interview.

AIDS combines with crime, foreign exchange restraints and labor union action to deter foreign investment, he said. About 13% of South Africa’s work force carries the HIV virus, which leads to AIDS, and this is expected to double by 2006, according to the United Nations. Companies in South Africa have begun responding to an epidemic that cuts worker productivity and threatens profits.

DaimlerChrysler will finance a medical program that will buy $3,750 worth of drugs that slow the onset of AIDS, for each worker and family member carrying HIV, he said. The company will also boost pensions for workers who retire early because of the disease and pay families of workers who die from it.