RTFP

Wellness Centres

A driver is counselled at the Wellness Centre in Chirundu as trucks queue to cross the border outside

When borders are less than efficient and long distance lorry drivers are forced to spend hours, if not days, waiting for clearance of their trucks, sharp-eyed entrepreneurs quickly take advantage of the situation with the supply of food, drink and other forms of entertainment including prostitution or opportunities for casual sex. The result has been the prevalence of STDs and HIV-AIDS along major transport routes.

In September 2007 RTFP entered into a contract with North Star Foundation for the establishment of three Wellness Centres which will provide low-cost, low-maintenance facilities giving primary healthcare as well as treatment for STDs, condom distribution, HIV prevention information, voluntary counselling and testing and referrals to follow up services such as TB and anti-retroviral therapies. The locations for the centres (which are made from adapted transport containers) are planned for both sides of the Chirundu border crossing between Zambia and Zimbabwe (already the site of RTFP support for a One Stop Border Post) and at Beit Bridge (between South Africa and Zimbabwe).

As at November 2008, only the Centre on the Zambian side of the Chirundu border had been set up. In spite of early problems with the connection of water and electricity, staff are now attending to the local community as well as to transient drivers and others. The Centre is positioned at the side of the road and works in close cooperation with a USAID project and the nearby mission hospital to ensure that all aspects of HIV-AIDS testing, treatment and care are covered.

Progress in setting up the Centre on the Zimbabwe side of Chirundu has been affected by the political situation following NGOs being banned from operating there. However, at Beit Bridge North Star have received good cooperation with local stakeholders and the container which will house the Centre has already arrived in the area, with operations due to begin in August 2008.

Prior to the establishment of the Centres, the Foundation undertook a Baseline Survey at Chirundu which revealed that 82% of the drivers and their assistants said that they had paid for sex at the border (with some 40% saying that they did so frequently). 65% of the male respondents thought that they were at high risk of becoming infected but none of the female respondents (72% of whom were sex workers) believed themselves at moderate or high risk of infection (with 70% believing that there were at no risk at all).

The North Star Foundation is a product of the transport sector in that it was established by the parcel delivery company TNT and is supported by the Federation of East and Southern Africa Road Transport Associations (FESARTA) in addition to UNAIDS and others (including the private sector). The NGO grew from a realization that some 3,500 drivers a year in southern Africa were dying of AIDS-related causes and that the drivers who were replacing them were in a high risk age group. In addition to the three Centres which are being financed by RTFP, the Foundation has others placed along the north-south corridor route