Cross-continent truckers risk more than HIV

Edward Oboth Ofumbi is glad his days as a long-distance truck driver are over; glad to have left a life filled with long, solitary journeys on some of Africa's worst roads, carrying valuable cargo on highways with minimal security.

"Truckers are a frustrated bunch; the roads are horrible, they are worried about thugs who want their cargo, police who want bribes, and they have deadlines to meet which are threatened by long delays at customs points," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

"They are constantly fatigued. Many truckers become hardened; they are a difficult group to talk to, to communicate with."

Ofumbi now works for the Ugandan Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) as a site coordinator in the town of Katuna, on the Ugandan side of the Rwanda-Uganda border.

Truckers often spend long periods away from their families, leading many to seek sexual satisfaction from women living in truck-stop towns like Katuna. A 2000 survey in Uganda by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) showed that 70 percent of drivers had spent less than a week at home in the previous four months.

At a SafeT Stop in Katuna, where truckers can relax, ATGWU, in conjunction with the NGO, Family Health International, supports HIV/AIDS education and testing. The centre doesn't offer alcohol, or permit people to drink while there, so many truckers miss out on the messages and services.

"When truckers get out of their trucks, the first thing they want is a shower, then to have something to eat and a beer," Ofumbi said. "They are not in the mood to be lectured about HIV."

When truckers get out of their trucks, the first thing they want is a shower, then to have something to eat and a beer ...They are not in the mood to be lectured about HIV

Fatigue and frustration often led truckers to abuse alcohol and drugs in an effort to "shake the road off", and substance abuse often went hand in hand with risky sexual choices, such as having unprotected sex with sex workers.

Ofumbi said because truckers were often killed or injured in motor accidents, their risk perception was skewed to believe they were more likely to die on the road than from HIV-related illnesses.

Local insecurity could also make reaching truckers with HIV interventions difficult: they carried expensive cargo, so safety and security in the towns where they slept over was of the utmost importance, and if there was a hint of danger they would stay in another town.

"Earlier this year Katuna fell prey to some local thugs who were siphoning fuel from the trucks," Ofumbi said. "The truckers started sleeping in the nearby town of Rubale, so we couldn't reach them with the counselling and testing for several months."

Better employment terms sought

Poor employment terms often contributed to frustration and substance abuse. "I carry goods from Mombasa [a port on Kenya's east coast] all over this region; sometimes the goods I carry are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars," said Joash Runga, a trucker preparing to spend the night in Katuna en route to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"And what do I get paid? One hundred and fifty dollars per month. I have no security, the roads are bad, we have to pay bribes, and the allowances for spending the night in towns like this are poor. Why do you think we drink so much?"

Companies also rarely allow truckers time off to go with their wives to prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV or HIV counselling, and because they would lose trips and money, many opt out. "One or two companies allow their drivers to go for HIV training on the company's time and money, but these are very few," Ofumbi said.

Photo: UNAIDS

Truckers spend weeks driving across the region

Multiple Hauliers, one of the region's largest transporters, works with the NGO, African Medical and Research Foundation, to provide HIV counselling for drivers. The company also pays for treatment for its HIV-positive employees, and continues to pay drivers a basic salary when they are too weak to work.

"Most people have one place where they can access medication, so long delays on the road could lead to skipping doses and resistance to the drugs ... many times the truckers are more focused on getting the goods there on time than their own health."

ATGWU has tried to lobby the transport companies for better terms for drivers, but because there is a greater demand for trucking jobs than for truckers, the union's members are reluctant to take industrial action to demand better working conditions.

"When we held a strike recently at Malaba [a town on the Kenya-Uganda border] we brought many businesses to a standstill, but truckers are usually too afraid of losing their livelihoods to protest," Ofumbi said.

He said ATGWU was collaborating with the ITF to lobby internationally for transport companies to follow the UN International Labour Office's code of practice on HIV.

"We must also find a way for our unions to be stronger, for transport companies to understand the importance of treating employees who hold millions of dollars worth of goods in their hands better."

kr/he/kn