Truck Drivers and Public Health Study
Timeframe: April 2006 – June 2006
Location: Northern, central and southern transport corridors
Migration and mobility across the Greater Mekong Sub-region is affecting the public health of mobile populations. In Viet Nam, provinces with the highest prevalence of HIV, STIs and other public-health concerns also have the highest degrees of mobility. Separated from the support of their families and the norms and expectations of society, mobile and migrant populations are especially vulnerable to drug abuse, risky sexual behaviour, and sexual exploitation, and may experience reproductive health problems without adequate access to health services. The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) designed a project to address the needs of transport workers with the long-term goal to improve the health of long-distance road transport workers in the Greater Mekong Sub-region. IOM facilitated research for UNESCAP to achieve the following:
- Determine the major risk factors relating to public health and HIV transmission among truck drivers;
- Identify the most realistic public-health activities for truck drivers and determine barriers towards the use of condoms;
- Identify existing health-care services used by truck drivers, including STI and HIV testing services, and determine the health-seeking behaviour of drivers;
- Identify social networks amongst truck drivers and the community along major transport routes;
- Estimate the populations of truck drivers along major transport routes.