The Relationship between HIV and AIDS Impact and Services Delivery among Moi University Staff

The unprecedented effect of HIV and AIDS in Africa cannot be over-emphasized as it takes its toll mainly on the active age population of 15-49 years. This age group is the main workforce of any nation and, unfortunately, the most vulnerable to infection of HIV. There has been growing concern about the devastating impact of HIV and AIDS in many workplaces. In response, many universities have developed university specific HIV and AIDS policies for impact mitigation in the workplace. Moi University is a public institution with a large workforce hence targeted in the current study. Realizing the negative impact that HIV and AIDS has on workplaces and the importance of having an HIV and AIDS workplace policy, this study sought to determine the relationship between HIV and AIDS impact and services delivery by the staff of Moi University. The study, whose main concern was about services delivery at Moi University, targeted teaching staff, non-teaching staff and senior management. To achieve this objective, the study used ex-post facto research design and stratified sampling technique in the selection of the study sample. A study sample made up of 330 participants was used for the study. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative methods in data collection. These included Workplace Testing Questionnaire, document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Primary data was collected by use of self-administered questionnaires and interview schedules, while secondary data was collected from libraries. The study used the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v 22.0) program to analyze the data collected. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically through coding. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used. The descriptive statistics included frequencies and means. Correlation analysis was used to test hypotheses (to test the relationship between the independent and dependent variables). The findings revealed that 25.2% agreed and 17.0% of the participants strongly agreed that they knew of a staff member who had died from HIV. It also emerged that 37.2% of the participants believed that HIV had led to loss of tacit skills. The analysis revealed that there was a significant positive relationship between teaching staff and non-teaching staff (r= .657), senior management and non-teaching staff (.529) senior management and teaching staff (r= .479). The study concluded that HIV and AIDS had impact on services delivery. Following this, the study recommended more involvement of senior top level university managers for clear understanding that HIV and AIDS is a workplace problem with serious consequences on services delivery. The study is, therefore, expected to be of great significance to universities in addressing the impact of HIV and AIDS on services delivery.