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August
2000
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If the action being taken by transport companies to beat the HIV/AIDS crisis is anything to go by, it becomes blatantly clear that the trucking industry has a long way to go before it can stand up and say it is doing everything to protect the future of its people and businesses writes Johan Eybers. Nearly ten years ago Keith Edlestone, in his book Aids: the Doomsday Scenario, declared the transport sector enemy number one of the public. Even then it was evident that the road freight industry was one of the highest risk areas in the rapid spread of the HIV virus in Africa. Edlestone pointed out that studies indicated a definite relationship between those areas where the disease was prevalent and the country's main transport routes. He also predicted that due to South Africa's excellent road infrastructure, the spread of AIDS would increase rapidly. A 1994 study conducted by the National Department of Health and Population Development also showed that long distance truck drivers in South Africa were the main culprits in spreading the disease. The sample consisted of 226 truck drivers interviewed at three places on the N3 route between Warden and Harrismith and the N1 near Cape Town.
It showed that long distance truck drivers have contact with prostitutes at overnight spots and that the majority of them are sexually active. The frequency was also very high. Altogether, 36 percent of the respondents who had sex with prostitutes said they did so more than once a day. Only one percent made use of condoms. In retrospect, one might wonder how apathy, ignorance and lack of action in targeting truck drivers has contributed to the spread of HIV in this country, especially when 1 500 people are infected each day. Mind boggling According to a risk scenario conducted by Metropolitan Life, more than six million people in South Africa will be infected by 2005 and by 2008, more than four million would have died. It is mind boggling that industry and government only started getting their act together last year to focus on truck drivers as a major link in the spreading of the disease. Trucking Against Aids (TAA), a prevention and education programme, was launched in April 1999 when it was estimated that one in ten truck drivers had the virus. TAA is housed in the National Bargaining Council of the road freight industry and is supported by a steering committee made up of industry and union representatives, and is chaired by the Minister of Transport.
Paul Matthew, managing director of The Learning Clinic, was appointed to manage the project and tells FleetWatch that it hasn't gone as originally envisaged. He points a finger at industry for not doing enough to tackle the problem. "I don't think industry is taking the matter seriously. When the Bargaining Council launched the project as a free service, we distributed 2 500 letters to those operators who were on our database. Only six or seven companies responded. It was very disappointing. I thought they would jump at it. It is proof that if it does not effect them heavily, they don't do much." Matthew says
it was made clear from the inception of TAA that three full-time
Aids councillors were available to all members of the National Bargaining
Council to conduct educational and training courses free of charge. Poor response Matthew says the response to all this was poor and there was no commitment from management as peer educators were not given any time to train their colleagues. "When we did follow-ups, it became apparent that peer educators could not perform training since they were all on the road themselves. No training was done and we could not force it." He says it was especially difficult to get smaller companies involved since they don't have human resource departments to drive the process. This forced TAA to re-look their initial strategy in obtaining their objective. "We introduced a paradigm shift by deciding to take the programme to the road." Operation Hot Spot started last year in November with the aim of identifying truck stops on the N1 and N3 highways where drivers overnight and where most sexual activity takes place. Nearly 2 000 trucks travel the N1 highway and the N3 daily. Basic training and information kits containing pamphlets and condoms were handed out to truck drivers at truck stops. Approximately 1 000 truckers were reached in December. Through interaction with these drivers, it became apparent that one of the biggest problems facing them is access to primary health care. A pilot project, where a mobile clinic was set up at the Harrismith Highway Junction, was launched in May this year in conjunction with the Natal Department of Health. A total of 222 drivers participated in the project. "We found that one in five truck drivers and almost all the prostitutes, suffered from widespread STDs because they did not have access to clinics." With this information in hand, the TAA set up a permanent clinic on the N3 outside Harrismith on 27 July. Another clinic will be established on the N1 near Beaufort West. Both campaigns are being run in conjunction with the local authorities. "Evidently, clinics are the way to go. You get the people you want to target for treatment against STD¹s and at the same time have the opportunity to subject them to training programmes," says Matthew.
While it is clear that the majority of trucking companies are doing nothing about the HIV/AIDS threat, there are those which have taken steps to minimise the risk HIV/AIDS is posing to employees, employers, their businesses and the industry at large. Unitrans was one of the pioneers in taking its awareness programme to the road - which it started doing last year. Sandile Radebe, human resource manager for Unitrans, says the company started by distributing condoms to truck drivers and sex workers. "Condom containers were placed on our trucks so that sex workers and truck drivers could help themselves anywhere our trucks stopped. We also launched a sticker campaign - 'Apply brakes on AIDS' - with the stickers displayed on the back of trucks for everybody on the road to read." He said volunteer AIDS sufferers also visited their plants in KwaZulu/Natal and the Eastern Cape to talk to drivers. "This had a large impact in the sense that drivers realised that people who are HIV positive look healthy, even though they are the carriers of a deadly virus. "Voluntary spitting tests have also been introduced in order to obtain a better picture of the problem, placing us a step closer towards managing it. Our figures show that we might be harbouring a big catastrophe which could get progressively worse." Radebe says the biggest problem is that a lot of drivers don't want to know what their HIV status is and are also scared of being branded and victimised if they do take part in any tests. "In a lot of instances, we only find out about a person's status once he gets too ill to drive. Then it's too late to manage it." Louis Hollander of Imperial Transport Holdings says the best way to inform drivers is to make AIDS education a part of their general training programme. "It's the only sure way to get the message across, and you don¹t have to spend additional man hours on training." Hollander says the company made use of TAA trainers to train 15 peer educators the same people who do general truck driver training. He adds that one of their biggest headaches is that they can't test drivers. "This makes it difficult to adequately measure the extent of the threat HIV poses. You don't know what the odds are." Shortage of drivers Neil le Roux of RoadCorp says that after testing their drivers it was found that more than 50% of the long distance driving staff were HIV positive. "It was apparent we had a huge problem at hand which would result in a shortage of drivers in a few years time. Peer educators were immediately trained through TAA in an attempt to counteract the problem. Unfortunately, the company was subjected to restructuring and training was one of the first victims of the process." Le Roux says they have since lost contact with TAA but would like to get the programme back on track. "We must be pro-active as AIDS will cost us a lot of money in the long run. A shortage of drivers could result in a skills shortage and concurrently an astronomical increase in salaries." Klop Buckle, managing director of Freemans Transport, a freight company in KwaZulu-Natal, says he also made use of TAA to train peer educators to educate his personnel. "I don't think we have been very successful. Lots of our drivers don't want to talk or hear about it. It is only if and when government gets involved that we might see a change. In Botswana, they do something if you are HIV positive. Your family is notified and you are counselled. We can't do anything until the disease becomes a matter of record." Buckle says two of his drivers died from AIDS but because their status remained a private matter, there was no way to get involved. "In both cases the cause of death was recorded as lung cancer." No commitment Abner Ramagholo of the Transport and General Workers Union says industry and government should be blamed for the current state of affairs. "There still seems to be no commitment from management and none from the smaller companies. They have reacted negatively to most campaigns that have been put in place." Ramagholo says it¹s especially worrying that transport minister, Dullah Omar, is politicking around the issue. "Mac Maharaj (the previous minister of transport) attended all the steering committee meetings. We haven't seen Omar at one of our meetings. It shows that there is no real commitment from his side." It is evident then that this industry still has a long way to travel before it can stand up and say that it is doing everything to protect the future of its people and businesses. Related Articles: |
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HIV
/ AIDs: A Long Road to Go 
Taking
to the road