Wellness Centres
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| AIDS is an ever present danger when drivers are forced to wait many days for clearance of their trucks. Photo by Gideon Mendel |
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| A busy border crossing doesn’t stop when the sun goes down. Photo by Gideon Mendel |
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. The latest report on the Centre of March 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/interactive/2009/feb/28/hiv-aids-zambia-zimbabwe
Copywright: Gideon Mendel ©
'Voices from the border' is a four minute audio slideshow which explores the complex issues around HIV/AIDS transmission in Chirundu, a small settlement along the Zambezi River on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is a key transit point on the trucking route from South Africa through to East Africa and it is well known as key HIV/AIDS transmission ‘hotspot’. Every day hundreds of trucks try to pass through this border creating huge congestion. Many truck drivers are forced to spend days and sometimes even weeks waiting for customs clearance and every night more than 500 trucks are parked in the customs yard and along the road leading out of town. There are about 4,000 people living in Chirundu, and as part of this population there are more than 350 sex workers who provide services to truck drivers and others.
This body of work was made with the support of UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) which is active in supporting a regional initiative called the 'One Stop Border Post' the first of which is in the process of being established in Chirundu. The main aim of this if to help facilitate trade and economic development by speeding up transit time at borders. The other aim is to improve health and combat HIV and AIDS by reducing the amount of time truck drivers are forced to stay away from their families and wait, and along side this working to improve the health of border sex workers, truckers and the local community.