Company Overview

Founded in 1886, The Coca-Cola Company is the world's leading manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of nonalcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, used to produce nearly 300 beverage brands. Their corporate headquarters are in Atlanta, with local operations in nearly 200 countries around the world. They are determined not only to make great drinks, but also to contribute to communities around the world through our commitments to education, health, wellness, and diversity.

» Read The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation HIV/AIDS Report 2006

HIV/AIDS Profile

The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation was established to manage and fund community initiatives within the African continent. In June 2001 UNAIDS announced a partnership with The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation to bring new impetus to the battle against AIDS. The collaboration between Coca-Cola and UNAIDS builds on existing models of public/private partnerships to strengthen private sector involvement in tackling global issues such as AIDS.

The three pillars of the partnership are:

Local Community Infrastructure - We will deploy our unique infrastructure and presence in local communities to support local prevention, education and treatment programs.

Marketing Resources - We will provide marketing expertise to develop public awareness and information campaigns for UNAIDS, international and local partners across Africa.

Human Resources Policies - As the largest private sector employer in Africa, will develop and implement model human resources policies and practices for our employees, consistent with local laws.

Coke and its Bottlers

In September 2002 the Coca-Cola Africa Foundation announced t that it is joining with Coca-Cola's 40 bottlers in Africa to help them expand their employee healthcare benefits for HIV/AIDS including antiretroviral drugs.

The healthcare program is the latest initiative in a multi-year campaign by The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and Coca-Cola bottlers in Africa to fight the continent's AIDS pandemic. The Foundation and bottlers already support HIV/AIDS campaigns in 10 countries and have entered a strategic partnership with UNAIDS and other non-profit organizations to strengthen the delivery of public health services across the continent.

The new expanded healthcare benefits program is one of the most extensive business-initiated HIV/AIDS efforts to begin to roll out in Africa; it is a result of extensive discussions and planning over the past year to form a partnership between The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, GlaxoSmithKline, PharmAccess International and Population Services International. The estimated costs of this initiative to The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation will be between US $4m and $5m per year.

Through the bottler's existing benefits program, the expanded healthcare program will offer access to anti-retroviral drugs to the employees and spouses of any Coca-Cola bottler that chooses to participate.

The first bottler(s) to deploy the program are in Egypt, Morocco, Burundi, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Reunion, Angola, Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa(some), Uganda, Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland and Zambia. Given some of the infrastructure challenges, it will take up to 12 months to fully roll this out in these countries. These bottlers have already put in place extensive policies regarding HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness which continues to be the area of focus. The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation will work with other bottlers in Africa to expand the number of those participating in the healthcare program over the next year.

Coca-Cola has worked with a wide range of non-profit groups to support HIV/AIDS programs across Africa. These include Kenya's National AIDS Control Council to support its Maisha (Life) education campaign; and have supported Hope Worldwide Men as Partners campaign in South Africa, which encourages men to take responsibility for the fight against AIDS.

Coca-Cola Africa has provided its 1,200 employees in Africa with comprehensive healthcare benefits, including full antiretroviral drug coverage since June 2001.

Since June 2001, The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation has worked in partnership with UNAIDS and focused on three aspects of the fight against AIDS: developing AIDS prevention, education and treatment programs in local communities; employing Coca-Cola's marketing expertise to develop public awareness and information campaigns; and implementing model human resource practices for employees of Coca-Cola Africa.

"No single organization can stand up to AIDS alone, but Coca-Cola Africa and its bottlers are determined to do their part," said Alexander B. Cummings, Chairman of the of The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation and President of Coca-Cola Africa. "We are proud to work with our bottlers to provide access to a program that can help them offer their employees and spouses the HIV/AIDS related care they need. This disease has no cure so we must focus our attention on education and prevention to help reduce the rate of new infections. We will also continue to work with governments, healthcare organizations, non-profit groups and others to see that Africa progresses in its struggle against AIDS."

»Read about Coca-Cola's "Love Life Caravan" Initiative in Ghana