In cross border sites, there exists an intricate web of sexual relationships among informal cross border traders, uniformed personnel (customs officials, immigration officials and customs clearing agents), sex workers, truck drivers, money-changers ('touts’), local border-town residents and deportees, which can potentially increase exposure to  HIV for all involved.

Structural factors such as gender and power relations come into play, with those who command authority (such as border officials) or those who possess economic resources (such as taxi drivers) sexually exploiting those in weaker positions. For example, female informal cross border traders who find themselves in situations of unexpected delays at border posts may be coerced into sex by customs officials to facilitate passage. For more information on the link between Gender and Migration, please click here.

In some cases the sexual liaisons are in response to the loneliness arising from being away from families and social support networks. Such may be the case for uniformed personnel who stay at border posts for long periods without contact with their families.  In order to decrease the HIV risk and vulnerability of people at cross-border sites PHASMA is undertaking the following activites.

Advocacy for Policy Development

Back and Forth – Photography Project on Informal Cross Border Traders in Southern Africa 

In order, to document the lives of cross-border traders and illustrate how their socio-economic living and working conditions increase their vulnerability to HIV, PHAMSA teamed up with students from the Market Photo Workshop (MPW)’s year-long Photojournalism and Documentary Photography Programme (PDP), and other photographers from the region, on a photographic project titled ““Back and Forth: Informal Cross Border Traders in Southern Africa”. As well as highlighting the traders’ vulnerability to diseases like HIV through the medium of photography, Back and Forth also celebrated their entrepreneurial spirit.

The objective of the project was to raise awareness of the HIV vulnerability faced by informal cross border traders amongst policy-makers from government, the UN and donor community, as well as the general public. The exhibition features photographs from all over the region, including Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.   

To highlight the factors that increase HIV vulnerability among workers in the Informal Cross Border Trade sector and raise awareness of these factors amongst stakeholders working in this sector, PHAMSA has produced the Regional Guidelines on HIV and AIDS for the Informal Cross Border Trade Sector in the SADC Region.

These guidelines provide stakeholders with practical recommendations for action to address HIV vulnerability among informal cross border traders and tools to advocate for HIV and AIDS programmes and policies in the sectors. The Guidelines were developed through a participatory process of field visits, interviews with key informants and a consultative regional workshop, with support from the European Union (EU) Regional Funds, channelled through the SADC HIV and AIDS Unit.

Pilot Projects

In order to address some of the gender dynamics PHAMSA will in partnership with local stakeholders provide One Man Can training in three cross border sites.