HIV Transmission Dynamics Among Long-Distance Truck Drivers

Long-distance truck drivers represent a mobile population that can bridge geographically disparate communities and contribute to HIV dissemination along transport corridors. Extended periods away from home, irregular access to comprehensive health services and exposure to multiple sexual partners, including sex workers, underpin heightened vulnerability. Behavioural factors such as inconsistent condom use, substance use and limited uptake of testing combine with structural barriers—stigma, insufficient clinic opening times and sparse distribution of tailored services—to sustain transmission chains. Psychosocial stressors including loneliness, depression and low self-efficacy further undermine preventive efforts and discourage regular testing. Patterns differ by region: in sub-Saharan Africa, peak prevalence is observed along major highways, while in South Asia targeted intervention programmes have shown reductions in new infections among drivers and their partners. Programmatic responses encompass roadside wellness centres, peer education, mobile testing units and demonstration projects of early antiretroviral therapy, seeking to integrate mental health and sexual health services. Optimising facility locations through network-design models and scaling up combined prevention and treatment interventions are critical to curtailing cross-border spread and achieving global targets for epidemic control.

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HIV Transmission Dynamics Among Long-Distance Truck Drivers publication trend

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Technical terms

HIV prevalence: The proportion of individuals in a specified population who are living with HIV at a given time.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART): A combination of medicines used to suppress HIV replication and improve immune function.

Condomless sex: Sexual intercourse without the use of a barrier method, increasing the risk of HIV and other infections.

Self-efficacy: An individual’s belief in their ability to perform behaviours necessary to achieve specific outcomes, such as consistent condom use or regular testing.

Roadside wellness centre: A clinic located along major transport routes providing targeted health services, including HIV testing, counselling and primary healthcare, for mobile populations.

References

1. The Roadside Healthcare Facility Location Problem A Managerial Network Design Challenge. Production and Operations Management (2020).
2. Heading towards the Safer Highways: an assessment of the Avahan prevention programme among long distance truck drivers in India. BMC Public Health (2011).
3. North‐South Corridor Demonstration Project: Ethical and Logistical Challenges in the Design of a Demonstration Study of Early Antiretroviral Treatment for Long Distance Truck Drivers along a Transport Corridor through South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Advances in Preventive Medicine (2013).
4. Psychosocial characteristics of primary care-seeking long-distance truck drivers in Kenya and associations with HIV testing. African Journal of AIDS Research (2018).
5. Depression and sexual risk behavior among long-distance truck drivers at roadside wellness clinics in Kenya. PeerJ (2019).
6. Utilization of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections Prevention Services, and Associated Factors among the Long-Distance Truck Drivers along the Northern Corridor Highway, Kenya. Advances in Sexual Medicine (2021).