Malawi: Long Distance Truck Drivers Among Major Contributors to Spread of HIV/Aids - Survey

18 March 2002
The Herald (Harare)

A three-month long survey of truck drivers in Mozambique, South Africa, Malawi and Botswana has found that the drivers are among the main contributors to the spread of HIV, the virus that causes Aids, in Southern Africa.

The survey, funded by the South African department of transport, the International Labour Organisation and the European Union, entitled "Cross Border Road Transport Aids Project Report," was delivered to South Africa's Transport minister, Mr Dullar Omar, on March 11 in South Africa.

According to the survey's co-ordinator, Dr Henning Morr, the road transport sector was the worst hit by the pandemic.

He said that Aids awareness among truck drivers was very low, particularly in Mozambique and South Africa.

The survey found that there was desperate need for education on the vital importance of using condoms to protect the drivers and their sexual partners from infection.

The report states that the long periods spent away from their families led truck drivers to engage in casual and, or commercial sex.

The survey interviewed long distance truck drivers along the Maputo Corridor (the Maputo-Johannesburg route) and the Tete Corridor (linking Zimbabwe and Malawi via the western Mozambican province of Tete), including the Matola cargo terminal and the town of Moatize, in Tete.

Out of 623 interviewees, a total of 277 (45 percent) had two or more sexual partners; 193 (31 percent) of the truckers interviewed had casual sex when away from home; and 137 (22 percent) of those interviewed had procured commercial sex.

The issue of the spread of HIV is highlighted by the lack of condom use. Only 58 percent of those truckers who participated in casual sex stated that they always used a condom, with 18 percent admitting that they never used one.

The figures for those using prostitutes were rather better, with 74 percent always using a condom, and only 8 percent never using one.

The survey found that many truckers were ignorant of HIV and Aids, with Mozambican and South African truckers being the most ignorant. It was found that workplace training took place in 53 percent of cases in Malawi, with Zimbabwe reaching figures of 50 percent.

But Mozambique and South Africa lag far behind, with figures of 19 percent and 17 percent respectively.

The result of this failure is that many truck drivers are ignorant of basic facts of the Aids epidemic. A third of those interviewed believed that HIV and Aids can be cured, and one in 10 either thought the disease does not exist, or were not sure.

At the news conference in South Africa, Mr Dullar Omar warned that "since the transport industry is seen as being responsible for the spread of this epidemic, it has to play a leading role in the fight to prevent the disease."

He suggested that places where truckers stop should look for ideas of what the truckers can do to entertain themselves instead of engaging in sexual activity.

The latest statistics indicate that about 1,1 million Mozambicans are infected with HIV.

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