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World AIDS Day 2008

Driving for change: action on HIV/AIDS in the road transport sector

In a number of countries, HIV prevalence is higher among road transport workers than in the general population. To respond to the challenge of HIV/AIDS in the sector, workers’ and employers’ representatives from around the world will meet in Geneva on World AIDS Day, 1 December, for a training and learning event. ILO Online reports from a border crossing between Kenya and Uganda.

Article | 28 November 2008

MALABA (ILO Online) – Long delays at border crossings like this one between Uganda and Kenya make truck drivers especially vulnerable to HIV infection.

Malaba is situated on the Northern Corridor, a strategic route connecting East Africa and the rest of the continent. Notorious for accidents, this difficult and dangerous route is also called the ‘Devil’s Highway’.

However, it is not only road accidents that can have an impact on people’s lives, families and businesses. Truck drivers often spend a long time away from home. 80 per cent of drivers worldwide spend more than four months every year away from home. Facilities along the road are poor or non-existent. And drivers may seek comfort and relaxation in a number of ways.

“When you are travelling you meet all these temptations. So we need some guidance to stay strong. Sometimes we make it, sometimes it’s difficult. But we have to try to keep away from this killer disease”, says Christopher Ogutu, a Kenyan truck driver.

Truckers in Russia, South Asia and North America express similar views. According to a video on HIV/AIDS in the road transport sector (Note 1), 76 per cent of sex workers at a truck stop in Southwest Uganda tested HIV-positive. One third of truck drivers along major routes in the US state of Florida had frequent sexual intercourse with multiple partners, but few used condoms. And two out three truck drivers crossing the border between Poland and Lithuania had casual sex while travelling.

But routes like the Northern Corridor may also become a ‘Highway of Hope’. This May, Malaba became the first one-stop border post in Eastern Africa.

“Truck drivers are a vital part of our economies. We owe it to them to let them do good business and help ensure that they are healthy. We want to have one stop at the border so the drivers have to stay here for less than two or three hours – this is the ultimate aim. And if they have to spend less time on the road and can spend more with their families we also expect that the retro infections will come down”, says Robinson Njeru Githae, Assistant Minister of Transport, Kenya.

The ILO Transport Sector Project, supported by the Swedish development agency Sida, is currently implementing the “Corridor Strategic Approach” with truckers, border post officials and communities along a selected number of routes in Southern Africa, covering Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. A similar project, supported by GTZ, is in place in the Russian Federation, and the ILO is also developing joint activities in several countries with the World Food Programme.

Workers in the transport sector are playing a significant role in reducing the spread and impact of the HIV epidemic, as the workshop running from 1-3 December in Geneva will show (Note 2).

It is the first in a series aimed at training instructors to use the new ‘Driving for Change’ (Note 3) training toolkit, which has been developed by the ILO, the International Road Transport Union’s (IRU) Academy and the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in response to the growing HIV/AIDS crisis in this sector.

The participants will tackle a wide range of topics relating to HIV/AIDS and transport, and will become better able to apply to the transport sector the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. On completion of the workshop, the participants will be able to deliver training on the toolkit to other managers and workers in the sector.

The toolkit is based on the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work and on guidelines specifically developed for the transport sector. The toolkit is used for training road transport operators on HIV prevention, including behaviour change, counselling and testing, as well as care and support. A similar ILO toolkit is in preparation for the railway sector.

“A sector-wide approach is needed to respond to the diversity of the transport sector and it includes capacity building on HIV/AIDS and support to truckers, border posts officials, vendors, health workers and communities along road transport corridors and across borders”, says transport expert Marios Meletiou from the ILO’s Sectoral Activities Department.

For further information, please contact the ILO’s Sectoral Activities Branch at sector@ilo.org or the ILO Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work at iloaids@ilo.org.


Note 1 – Video presentation on the Joint ILO/IRU/ITF Response to HIV/AIDS, produced by the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), the International Road Transport Union (IRU) and the ILO, ISBN 978-92-2-120820-4.

Note 2 – See 2008 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, UNAIDS.

Note 3Driving for change – a training toolkit for the road transport sector.