Drivers help anti-AIDS drives

Drivers help anti-AIDS drives

JAKARTA (JP): Truck drivers could help contribute their ideas
to combat AIDS by painting slogans on their trucks to remind
themselves and others of the deadly virus, local AIDS Day
organizers said recently.

This has been going on since Nov. 16 in Bekasi as part of the
International AIDS Day (Dec. 1) activities. They said this
activity would run until Dec. 13.

A committee spokesman said truck drivers, especially those who
traveled long distances through several towns, were prone to
contracting HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) which causes
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome.

"A recent survey shows many truck drivers traveling long-
distance routes often have high-risk sex with prostitutes
offering their services in dimly lit street food stalls which
double as illegal brothels. Such stalls can be found in abundance
along highways on the North Jakarta coast," one of the organizers
said.

This program is being sponsored by the Public Health
Development Foundation (YPKM) in cooperation with the National
Family Program Coordinating Agency (BKKBN), Levi Strauss & Co,
several non-government organizations, plus truck drivers and
their employers.(bas)