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Road freight industry feels AIDS impact

    JOHANNESBURG

    HIV/AIDS is taking its toll on the road freight industry in South Africa as employees fall ill or die from AIDS-related illnesses, said Sipho Khumalo, CEO of the country's Road Freight Association.

    At the recent opening of a new roadside clinic for the treatment and management of sexually transmitted infections among truck drivers, Khumalo said training and skills development costs in the industry were escalating as a result.

    A local newspaper, The Mercury, quoted him as saying: "Companies are having to rely on inexperienced drivers. This is causing more accidents."

    The new clinic is part of the Roadside Wellness Centre concept which was introduced in 2000 with the aim of curbing the spread of HIV among the road freight industry's workforce through awareness education and health care programmes.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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