The HIV vulnerability of workers in the road transport sector is
set to be discussed at a high-level workshop in Swaziland from
26-28 September.

Southern Africa is the epicentre of the global HIV epidemic,
with 32 percent of people with HIV in the world living in the
region, according to UNAIDS. The road freight industry within
Southern Africa has been significantly burdened by HIV, with busy
transport routes and border crossings long associated with HIV
transmission factors and higher than average prevalence.

The workshop, jointly organised by IOM, the North Star
Foundation (NSF), and the World Food Programme (WFP), will bring
together key players from the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) governments, the transport industry, civil
society, academia, donor and international organisations from
southern Africa with the aim of creating a roadmap for tackling HIV
in the road transport sector in the region.

The workshop will be co-hosted by SADC's HIV/AIDS Unit and
UNAIDS Regional Support Team for East and Southern Africa.

The gathering aims to provide a forum for sharing best practices
and to facilitate networking and coordination between stakeholders
working on HIV responses in the road transport
sector.  

This workshop is part of IOM's Partnership on HIV and Mobility
in Southern Africa (PHAMSA), a regional programme that aims to
reduce the HIV incidence and impact of AIDS among migrant and
mobile workers and their families. 

Active since 2004, PHAMSA, funded by the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), implements HIV prevention
projects in sectors that are characterised by high levels of
population mobility, including construction, transport, commercial
agriculture, fisheries and mining sectors as well as in
cross-border sites.  

A cornerstone of PHAMSA's programme approach is to also focus on
the contextual factors that impact on vulnerability of mobile
workers such as unhealthy working and living conditions; limited
access to health care services; and inadequate policy
frameworks. 

For more information contact:

Barbara Rijks

IOM South Africa

Tel: +27 12 34 22 789

E-mail:  "mailto:brijks@iom.int">brijks@iom.int

or

Reiko Matsuyama

E-mail: "mailto:rmatsuyama@iom.int">rmatsuyama@iom.int