News

North Star Alliance and Maplecroft map healthcare for African truckers

10/03/2010

Thousands of truck drivers in Africa have a new navigation tool to help them easily find healthcare centres along the subcontinent's major transport corridors. In a unique partnership between Shell, Maplecroft and North Star Alliance, four maps have been published showing the exact locations of more than 160 roadside wellness centres in West, East and Southern Africa. All the maps are in English, with the West Africa map also available in French.

Some of the services provided by the wellness centres include sexual health education and counselling, HIV/AIDS testing, blood pressure testing, TB screening, treatments of minor infections and wounds, and the distribution of free condoms.

"For the first time, truckers can see where they can access health services along major trucking corridors and transport hubs on the subcontinent," says Paul Matthew, Director Africa for North Star Alliance. "Our ultimate goal is to get these maps into the hands of all truck drivers in Africa."

From left to right: Mendo Joxo (Area Distribution Manager: Shell South Africa Energy (Pty) Limited) and Paul Matthew (Director Africa: North Star Alliance).

The maps, produced by Maplecroft, are funded by Shell. "Shell recognises that the wellbeing of drivers has a direct impact on our business," says George Wandera, Downstream Road Safety Coordinator - Africa. "This joint initiative provides truck drivers with the latest information on where to find roadside wellness centres on the subcontinent, and it supports Shell Africa's broader road transport HIV/AIDS strategy."

Shell is coordinating distribution of the maps to its Road Transport Managers in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Togo, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Namibia, Botswana and South Africa. The maps will also be distributed through the national road transport associations of those countries, and to Shell's contracted haulier partners, as well as Shell Driving Schools and Shell depots.

Extract of route map of the Roadside Wellness Centres for Eastern Africa

North Star Alliance is also distributing the maps to drivers who visit their roadside Wellness Centres, and to other roadside clinic networks in sub-Saharan Africa. Makweni, a driver from Abidjan, says the maps are easy to use. "They show all the clinics on the main routes and they are easy to find. Sometimes I tell other people to visit a clinic if they are sick, with stomach pain or malaria." Occasionally, drivers have referred their spouses to nearby clinics.

Alyson Warhurst, CEO of Maplecroft said the company became involved in the project after conducting research on the link between the spread of HIV/AIDS and truck drivers in Africa. "Drivers were getting ill with no effective support. Our experience in issue mapping allowed us to pinpoint the best locations for the Wellness Centres."

North Star Alliance is a multi-national, public-private partnership originally co-founded in 2006 by courier company TNT and the United Nations World Food Programme. Besides other similar facilities, North Star Alliance has established 12 data-linked roadside health clinics at major truck stops and border crossings in Africa. The clinics are housed in specially converted and equipped shipping containers.

Video introduction to the North Star Alliance - Wellness Centres

Unique project represents cumulative effort

The more than 160 healthcare facilities identified on the maps represent the cumulative efforts of over 40 programmes, sponsors and operators that include ALCO; Batsirai; CESACO; Chevron; CIDA; Corridors of Hope; CPIS Bon Samaritan; DFID; Espoir de la Famille; Faisons Ensemble; FESARTA; FHI/ROADS; GLIA; Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria; IOM; ITF; KFW; LVCT; North Star Alliance; ORTEC; PEPFAR; PMAESA; PSAMAO; PSI; RFA, RTFP; Safe-T-Stop; Salvation Army; SIDA; TNT; Trucking Wellness; UNAIDS; URBLS; USAID; WAPCAS; WFP, the Dutch, Japanese and Swedish Ministries of Foreign Affairs as well as numerous Ministries of Health and National AIDS Control Programmes and many regional and local health service organisations.

• ALCO - Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organisation
• CIDA - Canadian International Development Agency
• DFID - Department of International Development UK
• FESARTA - Federation of Eastern and Southern African Road Transport Associations
• FHI/ROADS - Family Health International/Regional Outreach Addressing AIDS through Development Strategies
• GLIA - Great Lakes Initiative on AIDS
• IOM - International Organization for Migration
• ITF - International Transport Workers' Federation
• LVCT - Liverpool VCT, Care and Treatment
• PEPFAR - President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
• PMAESA - Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa
• PSAMAO - Prevention du SIDA sur les Axes Migratoires de l'Afrique de l'Ouest
• PSI - Population Services International
• RFA - Road Freight Association RSA
• RTFP - Regional Trade Facilitation Programme
• UNAIDS - Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS
• URBLS - Burkina Faso Union of Truckers in the Fight Against AIDS
• USAID - United States Agency for International Development
• WAPCAS - West Africa Project to Combat AIDS and STIs
• WFP - World Food Programme

What are Roadside Wellness Centres?

These are health clinics designed for the specific needs of truckers and located near border posts, ports, truck parks and along major transport highways. Drivers can park their trucks at the clinic and visit a nurse with no hassles. Health services may vary but many clinics can:

• Measure blood pressure and weight
• Treat minor infections, cuts or burns
• Provide advice on nutrition
• Test for and treat malaria
• Answer questions about sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• Test for and treat HIV
• Screen for tuberculosis
• Distribute free condoms

Issued by CVLC on behalf of North Star Alliance, Maplecroft and Shell Oil Products Africa

More information on Maplecroft's custom mapping