UN agency starts HIV prevention training for Ethiopian truck drivers

In a bid to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS among a high-risk group in Ethiopia, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today began a series of innovative awareness building sessions for truck drivers employed by the agency.

Truck drivers are considered especially vulnerable to contracting the virus that causes AIDS because they "are away from their families for long periods of time and are presented with opportunities to engage in high-risk sexual behaviour," according to WFP. The agency's training sessions aim to help some 2,300 truck drivers hired to move relief food from the Port of Djibouti to warehouses and distribution sites within Ethiopia.

"We believe that the training sessions are a very effective strategy for slowing the spread of HIV/AIDS," said Benedict Fultang, WFP acting Country Director in Ethiopia.

In announcing its decision to provide the training, the agency cited studies in Africa which show that some transport workers have multiple sexual contacts without condoms. This behaviour is blamed in part on a lack of awareness about the magnitude of the AIDS problem in Ethiopia, where, according to UN estimates, 10.6 per cent of the population is HIV positive.