HIV/AIDS and Transport

The transport sector has a role to play in the effort towards preventing the spread and mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS. Improved transport systems lead to increased mobility, which in turn may facilitate the spread of HIV/AIDS. Categories at risk from transport sector activities include:

• People who operate transport services and are vulnerable to promiscuous sexual contacts along transport corridors, around stopping places and key transport nodes.
• People who travel as part of their work or who work in the transport industry and as a result spend time away from home, are more likely to have sex with non-regular partners.
• Transport infrastructure construction and maintenance workers living in camp-like settlements far away from their spouses.
• Communities in areas where new infrastructure has/is being opened up are suddenly opened up to new influences.

In addition we are likely to see changes in the mobility needs of rural communities as a consequence of the impact of HIV/AIDS upon local demographics (for example age and gender).

HIV/AIDs and Transport Research
IFRTD afiliated national forum groups (NFGs) in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, led by the South Africa NFG (Hosted by CSIR Transportek, Pretoria), have initiated a literature review on this issue. Their programme investigates the types of community based responses and institutions that have emerged along transport corridors, at hubs, and at locations of infrastructure construction or maintenance, as a response to the HIV/AIDs crisis. It seeks to identify the scope for the transport sector to work in partnership with these communities to mitigate impact. Click here for more information

If you are involved in research related to HIV/AIDS and transport, know of relevant publications or web-sites or are an organisation with an interest in these issues please do contact us at hiv@ifrtd.org