Teaching Business Students About HIV and AIDS in the Workplace: Curriculum and Resources

The significant and increasing number of people in the U.S. and global work-forces who are infected with HIV or who have AIDS must be managed differently from those who are not infected and those who have other life-threatening diseases. Business schools can prepare their MBA students to effectively, legally, and compassionately manage people with HIV infection or AIDS and to deal with all other workers who are affected by these conditions by offering a short, noncredit or one-credit, required course about how to do so. This article describes one such course that teaches students how to develop a workplace HIV/AIDS program, including policy development, manager and labor leader training, and employee and family education. Presentation options other than a stand-alone course for MBA students are considered as well.