Truck drivers given condom demonstration

More than 2,000 truck drivers hired by the World Food Programme (WFP) in Ethiopia have been given lessons on the proper use of condoms as part of an HIV/AIDS prevention course. In a statement, WFP said the training was aimed at some 2,300 truck drivers contracted by WFP to move relief food from Djibouti port to warehouses and distribution sites within Ethiopia. Over a period of two months, the drivers are being trained on risk reduction and prevention methods. “Although everyone can be vulnerable to the HIV virus, which causes AIDS, some groups, because of the nature of their work, are at greater risk than others... [including] truck drivers, who, in most cases, work away from their families for long periods of time and are presented with opportunities for high-risk sexual behaviour.” The UNAIDS estimates that 10.6 percent of the population of Ethiopia is HIV-positive, with an even higher rate of infection in the capital, Addis Ababa, WFP said. [For more information on the course see http://www.wfp.org/newsroom]