Truck drivers call for uniform ARVs in region

By Philip Mwakio

Long-distance truck drivers in East and Central Africa have appealed to member states to speed up the harmonisation of HIV drugs.

Speaking on the sidelines of a regional workshop for players in the transport sector, Mr Naphtal Ouma of the Uganda Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union said this would save lives.

"Truck drivers who might be on ARVs take long on the road ferrying goods. It is prudent that they take uniform drugs while on transit," he said.

He spoke at Mombasa’s Nyali Beach Hotel at a workshop organised by the Great Lakes Initiative on Aids.

Ouma, who is the union’s secretary in-charge of road transport, oil and chemicals, said use of drama to reach a wider audience on the need for HIV testing, treatment and safe living in Uganda had achieved enormous results.

"We have been able to pass the message across. Now masses are beginning to live positively,’’ he said.

Participants at the workshop hosted by the Constellation for Aids Competence are from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Initiative Programme Co-ordinator Zachary Nzeyimana said the region was on the right track in drug harmonisation.

"We are not yet fully compliant with the harmonisation process. However, the process started in 2003 and we have achieved some success,’’ he said.