Soul Beat Africa

• PROGRAMME EXPERIENCES: Trucker and sexworker projects around borders and transport corridors...
• RESEARCH AND EVALUATIONS: Sexual health of border populations in SADC and lessons learned from East and West Africa...
• RESOURCES AND MATERIALS: Videos and a comic book on border/migration issues...

• The Soul Beat 221 - Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Youth in Africa
• The Soul Beat 228 - Sex Worker Health and Rights

• 1. Soul City Southern African Regional Programme for Border Populations - Zambia, Malawi, Namibia and ZimbabweThe Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication and their partners in Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe are working to intensify cross border social and behaviour change communication (SBCC) interventions with a particular focus on high risk groups such as sexworkers, truckers, and migrant populations. The project involves the distribution of print materials for sexworkers, audio materials for truck drivers, film screenings at mobile clinics, as well as social mobilisation activities for border and neighbouring communities.Click here for more information on the work being done at Namibian borders as part of this programme.
  
• 2. Project Ripfumelo - South AfricaThe Ripfumelo ("believe" in xiTsonga) Project is working to reduce HIV and TB vulnerability amongst migrants, and mobile populations, as well as communities affected by migration in South Africa. The first phase of the Ripfumelo Project ran from 2009 to 2011, focusing on labour migrants in the commercial agricultural communities. Building on this project, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) is scaling up the project to reduce HIV and TB vulnerability among other hard to reach groups in the mining, ports, truck stops, and informal settlement communities, and including forced and irregular migrants.
  
• 3. Regional Outreach Addressing AIDS through Development Strategies (ROADS) - East AfricaSince 2005, the ROADS project has linked communities along transport corridors in east, central, and southern Africa with HIV/AIDS and other health services. ROADS uses a community organising approach that brings together local volunteer groups with similar focus and interest (such as women, out-of-school youth, or people living with HIV or AIDS). ROADS is led by FHI360 in collaboration with strategic partners.
  
• 4. SADC HIV and AIDS Cross Border Initiative - AfricaLaunched in 2012, the SADC HIV and AIDS Cross Border Initiative is a five year programme established by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to improve the regional response to HIV and AIDS among mobile populations. The Initiative's goal is to reduce HIV infections in the SADC region and to mitigate the impacts of HIV and AIDS on mobile populations and affected communities across SADC Member States. The initiative focuses on long distance truck drivers and commercial sex workers, as well as communities that live close to cross border sites, through mobile clinics offering health services, as well as behaviour change communication and HIV and tuberculosis (TB) information.
  
• 5. Storytelling to Combat HIV/AIDS Stigma amongst Transport Workers - KenyaThis multi-month storytelling programme involved Kenyan transport workers, AIDS clinicians, and union members listening to and telling stories about HIV and its impact on their lives. In 2009, the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) came to the consulting organisation Narativ because they wanted to mainstream HIV/AIDS awareness, build knowledge, increase access to treatment, and decrease secrecy and discrimination by strengthening the collective voice of transport workers. The behaviour change communication (BCC) programme was designed to empower transport workers, who have great vulnerability to HIV, to speak out openly about the disease and be ready to take action on their own behalf, consciously altering structures of inequality, subordination, and isolation.
  
• 6. NSEWA Learning Network Project - AfricaThe NSEWA Project (which is a contraction of North-South-East-West Africa) is working to close the gap between health services and road safety through specially designed driver safety training and health-related programmes directed at the Road Freight Industry. Led by North Star Alliance and Fleet Forum, the NSEWA training and certificate programme will help truck drivers take control of their own health and safety with free access to health care, as well as acquire better road safety knowledge and skills through an entertaining, self-paced programme. Since May 2013, it is being piloted in South Africa with local and regional transport companies and there are plans to roll out the project internationally.
  

• 7. A Review of Migrant and Mobile Populations within Border Areas of SADC: Implications for HIV Prevention Programming [Oct, 2011]By Jo Vearey, Elsa Oliveira, Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon, and Stanford MahatiThis report outlines research exploring sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV needs in migrant, mobile, and border populations in the SADC, highlighting implications for HIV prevention programming in border areas. Conducted by the African Centre for Migration and Society at Wits University for the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication, the findings were intended to inform the regional HIV prevention programming activities of Soul City and its partners (as part of the initiative outlined above in No 1.) According to the report, the "border space" is an interactive space that involves both one-off and repeated encounters between different groups. For some, the "border space" is transitory. For others, it is home. It is essential to consider different kinds of populations when planning interventions, as migrant and non-migrant groups interact in various ways, including through sexual networks.
  
• 8. Success on the Road: Reversing the Spread of HIV/AIDS In West Africa - The Story of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor HIV/AIDS Joint Regional Project [Feb, 2011]By Carol Hooks and Siélè SiluéThis report shares the experience and five key factors identified as important to the success of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor HIV/AIDS Joint Regional Project. According to the report, long-range ground transport is a major route for the spread of HIV in Africa. Drivers and their assistants overnight along their way and can spend days at border crossings waiting to clear customs and other border formalities. This puts truck drivers, other mobile workers, sex workers, and the people who live along the route at increased risk for HIV. The report states that the project reduced HIV risk among these vulnerable populations, and therefore provides a good model for beginning to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS in Africa and maximising opportunities for and the benefits of care and treatment of those living with HIV.
  
• 9. Risky Business Made Safer - Corridors of Hope: An HIV Prevention Program in Zambian Border and Transit Towns [Oct, 2011]By Saranga Jain, Margaret Greene, Zayid Douglas, Myra Betron, and Katherine FritzThis case study, published by the AIDSTAR-One programme, discusses the experience of the second phase of the Corridors of Hope (COH II) programme, sharing how COH II addressed multiple gender-related barriers to HIV prevention, particularly with sex workers. COH II taught individuals in the border town of Livingstone, Zambia about HIV prevention, provided HIV and STI health services in clinics and through mobile units, and used a behaviour change and communication strategy to change risky sexual behaviour. COH II also addressed gender-based violence and legal protection through referrals, as these were needs frequently identified by sex workers, and worked with men to change their unsafe sexual behaviour. According the case study, COH II contributed to the overall goal of preventing new HIV infections and providing individuals with care and support services.
  
• 10. Emerging Good Practices in Migration and HIV Programming in Southern Africa [Mar, 2011]By Obrien Fungai NyamuchereraThis report, published by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), was produced to identify, assess, and document emerging best practices based on work done in pilot projects under the IOM's Partnership on HIV and Mobility in Southern Africa (PHAMSA). PHAMSA projects are based around a comprehensive HIV model, and implemented in migration-affected communities, in collaboration with partners in Swaziland, Mozambique, Lesotho, South Africa, and Zambia, mostly within mining and agricultural sectors. According to the assessment, using the IOM's health promotion and service delivery (HPSD) project model as a framework helped to guide local partners and ensured a common vision and objectives, but allowed each intervention to be adapted to their own context.
  
• 11. Determinants of HIV in Key Hotspots on the Southern Transport Corridor [Apr, 2012]By Kerry Selvester, Delmira Cambaco, Victor Bie, and Alfred MndzebeleThis report, published by IOM, shares the results of a study to explore the key determinants of HIV along Mozambique's southern transport corridor, which runs between Mozambique and Swaziland. As stated in the report, the corridor runs through locations that have amongst the highest HIV prevalence of anywhere in the world. The report concludes that the situation along the corridor should be considered an emergency, and the hotspots should be saturated with combination HIV prevention programmes as well as intensified access to treatment and care services.
  
• 12. Providing Antiretroviral Therapy for Mobile Populations: Lessons Learned from A Cross Border ARV Programme in Musina, South Africa [Jul, 2012]This report, published by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), summarises findings and lessons learnt from an antiretroviral (ARV) programme in Musina, South Africa. In December 2007, MSF launched a project to provide primary health care to Zimbabwean migrants, asylum-seekers, and refugees. According to the report, high mobility is inherent to Southern Africa, epicentre of the HIV/TB pandemic, yet health systems in the region are not adapted to ensure continuity of chronic care for migrants. Knowing these patients will be crossing between South Africa and Zimbabwe two to five times a year, a specific model of care was developed to ensure continuity of chronic care for these highly mobile populations. This report outlines the elements of this strategy and demonstrates the benefits of these tools and strategies that cater to the needs of highly mobile populations in need of chronic care.
  

• 13. Migration and HIV in Tanzania - Video Series [2011]This is a series of documentary films, produced by the IOM, that focus on the HIV vulnerabilities of four mobile populations in Tanzania: fishermen, seafarers, truck drivers, and uniformed border staff.
  
• 14. At the Crossroads - Video [2012]This video tells the story of Edward, a 45-year-old long-haul truck driver in Malawi, Africa. Edward has been traversing crowded African corridors for more than 20 years and spends 26 days a month on the road. The film describes his work life and the health risks that he assumes every day. The film was produced on behalf of TNT Express and North Star Alliance.
  
• 15. Chasing Dreams - A Comic Book and Facilitator's Guide [2009]Chasing Dreams is a comic book, published by IOM, which is designed to raise awareness of the challenges facing migrants, mobile workers, and the communities with whom they interact - in particular, the challenges related to their vulnerability to HIV. The comic is set in Walvis Bay, Namibia. However, according to the publisher, the themes raised are relevant to service providers, managers, and policy makers throughout southern Africa and around the world.
  
• 16. Sex and HIV Along Transport Corridors - Video [2011]This video looks at how IOM and the Kenyan government are working together to raise much-needed awareness of HIV among sex workers and their clients in Busia, a border town between Kenya and Uganda.
  

• Lesotho (PHELA Health & Development Communications)
• Malawi (Pakachere Health and Development Communication)
• Mozambique (N'weti Health Communication)
• Namibia (Desert Soul Health and Development Communication)
• Swaziland (Lusweti Institute for Health Development Communication)
• Zamiba (Zambia Centre for Communication Programmes)
• Zimbabwe (Action Institute for Environment Health and Development Communication)