HIV/AIDS Strategy

Anglo American PLC
06 August 2002





News Release
6 August 2002



        ANGLO AMERICAN ANNOUNCES FURTHER STEPS IN ITS HIV/AIDS STRATEGY

          PROVIDING ANTI-RETROVIRAL THERAPY TO EMPLOYEES WITH HIV/AIDS

The provision of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) for HIV/AIDS has been the subject
of intense discussion and research within the Anglo American Group over the last
eighteen months.

Operating companies will now be encouraged to enhance their HIV/AIDS wellness
programmes by making ART available at company expense to HIV positive employees
who do not have an ART benefit through a medical aid scheme and who have
progressed to a stage of HIV infection where ART is clinically indicated. These
companies will consult with both trade unions and government on issues relating
to implementation.

The progressive rollout will be coordinated across the group using available
health care facilities and according to well-defined protocols with rigorous
monitoring and evaluation. The pace of the rollout will vary at company level
depending, inter alia, on the availability of suitable company health
infrastructure. The first steps on a pilot basis have already been signalled in
terms of the AngloGold/Union and Association agreement on HIV/AIDS signed on 25
July 2002.

It is accepted internationally that the magnitude of the health challenge posed
by HIV/AIDS, especially in southern Africa, is such that it cannot be adequately
addressed by individual companies or even sectors acting in isolation but
requires a partnership between all stakeholders. Anglo American and its
operating companies will, therefore, seek to work with national and provincial
governments and local authorities, international donors such as the Global Fund,
and appropriate NGOs and communities in order that the public sector capacity is
created to extend ART delivery beyond the workplace to the broader community,
including dependents of employees and retired employees, who do not belong to
medical aid schemes with an ART benefit.

The costs to individual operating companies will depend on the level of HIV
prevalence, the rate of uptake by employees meeting the clinical criteria for
ART and on the prices and types of drugs prescribed. It is anticipated that the
prices of drugs will fall significantly as usage increases and/or generic
alternatives become available.

The operating companies expect to derive benefits from their HIV programmes
through extending the lives of infected employees and containing future AIDS
related costs, including absenteeism, medical expenses, pension benefits and the
recruitment and training costs required to replace employees who become too ill
to work.

Finally, operating companies within the Anglo American Group will continue to
promote their substantial education and prevention programmes as it is vital to
ensure that the large majority of our employees who are HIV negative remain so.
One of the key benefits of a comprehensive strategy with an emphasis on
voluntary counselling and testing is that it promotes the individual behavioural
change that is essential to turn the tide of the AIDS epidemic.



BACKGROUND

During the 1990's Anglo American developed a comprehensive HIV/AIDS programme
that covered both prevention and care of its employees suffering from HIV/AIDS.
In the Anglo American Safety, Health and Environmental Report of 2001 this was
published as a strategy comprising the following key elements.


  • Pursuing the HIV/AIDS prevention campaign with renewed vigour, with
    special emphasis on partnerships and community interventions.

  • Establishing the prevalence of HIV infection at all southern African
    operations through voluntary, anonymous, unlinked HIV prevalence surveys.

  • Encouraging large scale voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) for HIV
    infection in the workforce and in the surrounding community.

  • Linking VCT to a programme of care for people infected with HIV.

  • Implementing large-scale prevention and treatment campaigns for sexually
    transmitted infections (STI's).

  • Implementing a formal system of HIV/AIDS Reporting.

  • Conducting research into the effectiveness of the Group's HIV/AIDS
    strategy.

  • Participating in HIV clinical vaccine trials.

HIV/AIDS wellness programmes are an integral part of the care and support that
are provided for individuals that are infected with HIV. The elements of these
programmes now comprise:


  • understanding the disease through intensive counselling and support;

  • encouraging a healthy lifestyle, with good nutrition;

  • preventing and treating opportunistic infections, especially TB;

  • providing access to appropriate and sustainable antiretroviral therapy
    (ART) when clinically indicated.

Anglo American's pioneering work in the field of policy and advocacy on HIV/AIDS
has been recognised by a Commonwealth award for action on HIV/AIDS in 2001.



For further information:

Anglo American - London

Investor Relations

Nick von Schirnding

Tel: [phone]



Media Relations

Kate Aindow

Tel: [phone]



Anglo American - Johannesburg

Investor Relations

Anne Dunn

Tel: [phone]



Media Relations

Marion Dixon

Tel: [phone]





Notes to Editors:

Anglo American plc is one of the world's largest mining and natural resource
groups. With its subsidiaries, joint ventures and associates, it is a global
leader in gold, platinum group metals and diamonds, with significant interests
in coal, base and ferrous metals, industrial minerals and forest products. The
group is geographically diverse, with operations in Africa, Europe, South and
North America and Australia. (www.angloamerican.co.uk)




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