World AIDS Day 2005
World AIDS Day: Affiliate Activities
Since 1981 World AIDS Day is commemorated around the globe on 1 December. 1st December was chosen because the first case of AIDS was diagnosed on this day. ITF affiliated transport unions took part in several World AIDS Day events and organised their own activities to bring into focus the growing challenges for transport workers.
Below you will find a summary of the activities carried out by the ITF affiliates.
Please inform us of your union’s World AIDS Day activities so we can share the information with other affiliates.
South Africa:
Trucking Against AIDS which is a partnership between the provincial Department of Health, Buffalo City Municipality, the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight Industry and the ITF affiliate South African Transport and Allied Workers' Union (SATAWU), opened a new roadside clinic in the West Bank industrial area of the country on 29 November to mark World AIDS Day 2005.
This is the second roadside clinic to be opened in the Eastern Cape; the first was in Port Elizabeth. Trucking Against AIDS was launched in 1999 to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country's road freight industry. (For more information see: ITF/FNV Africa Newsletter No: 11 and 12.) Since its inception, 10 wellness centres have been established on the main trucking routes in South Africa. At these centres truck drivers and sex workers are educated, counselled and given condoms.
The media coverage was strong and during the opening, the national TV channel TV3 interviewed all partners including the SATAWU representative, as well as, long distance truck drivers.
Togo:
The activities in Togo were carried out under the ITF -TOGO national coordinating committee.
On December 2 at the Port Authority of Lomé the ITF affiliated Syndicat des Travailleurs du Port Autonome de Lomé (SYNTRAPAL) and the director of the Médico-sociol centre of the port, jointly organised a conference for port workers entitled “Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise”. A lively debate followed the presentations. Present at the opening of the events marking World AIDS Day were the director of the port, the minister who is the head of the national committee for HIV/AIDS, and other organisations involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
On December 3, at 06:00 am in the morning, all the ITF affiliated unions took part in a demonstration at the border town of Kodjoviakopé. From 10 to 14:30 a caravan went through the city of Lomé calling on decision makers, managers and the people to hold to the promise and fight against the pandemic. After speeches from the town officials, sketches on risky behaviour were presented along with preventative measures.
The demonstration was called by the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organisation (ALCO), based in Cotonou, Benin which runs the joint Regional HIV/AIDS Project in the Abidjan-Lagos Transport Corridor. It is an HIV/AIDS prevention project covering five countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria. The project is working to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS among transport workers, migrants, commercial sex workers and local people living along the corridor.
On the 10th of the December the committee organised a conference for industrial workers focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and sensitisation.
Guinea-Bissau:
On 1 December members of SINAMAR Sindicat National des Matelôts (MARINS) participated in the AIDS awareness rally to mark World AIDS Day. At least 17.000 people are HIV-positive in Guinea-Bissau and the HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate is more than 10 percent.
view larger image