Aid in Action

One-Stop Border Post Helps Streamline Transit Times

SafeTStop leads to brighter future for border communities

Malaba, Kenya  | Tuesday, August 28, 2007

The Northern Corridor is a rail and road network that links Kenya to the Great Lakes countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Southern Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Of the many bottlenecks along this route, the Malaba Border Post between Kenya and Uganda is the busiest. Increased trade and efficiency along this corridor hold the potential for a myriad of economic and social benefits.

On May 23rd, 2006, the refurbished railway building at Malaba, was inaugurated by Deputy Chief of Mission, Leslie V. Rowe. This building will house the Kenya and Uganda Revenue Authorities, Customs and other Transit Transport Facilitation Authorities which clear railway cargo passing between the two countries – thus creating a One-Stop Border Post for rail cargo.

The Border Post Railway Station is the first of several similar projects to be undertaken by the two governments, USAID, COMESA and the Transit Transport Coordination Authority (TTCA) to streamline transit times and costs, as well as increase transparency along the Northern Transport Corridor. The Malaba One-Stop-Border Post is an important step in transforming the Northern Corridor into an Economic Development Corridor.

In acknowledgement of the challenges that increased cross border activity creates, USAID also launched the Malaba HIV/AIDS Safe-T-Stop, an innovative program to extend HIV/AIDS services along regional transport corridors. Safe-T-Stop is designed to reduce HIV transmission, improve care for people living with HIV/AIDS, and mitigate the impact of the disease in communities frequented by truckers and other mobile populations.

Transport is an enabling industry; it has a major role to play in economic growth, improved standards of living, increased trade, improved access to employment opportunities and increased social integration.

At the moment, trucks move up from Mombasa at a decent pace. But, they slow to a crawl at weigh stations or border crossing such as Malaba. These locations, where trucks stop, stack up and idle create communities all their own. Transport corridors such as this one are both economic lifelines and arteries of HIV infection. The One-Stop Border Post at Malaba will cut waiting time at the border from days to hours, lessening the burden for truck drivers and other high-risk mobile populations and the communities that host them.

This is important because when HIV/AIDS attacks a community or a region it becomes so much more than a health issue. HIV/AIDS affects all areas of life, not only health but economic livelihoods, human rights, gender relations, business, trade and politics. HIV/AIDS thrives in locations of high population movement, populations of economic vulnerability, hunger, joblessness and unequal relations between men and women. Safe-T-Stops address the underlying factors that drive risky behavior -- by working with women, children and vulnerable young people who are so easily moved into high risk behavior for survival.

By reaching out to long-haul truckers, by reducing economic vulnerability, by strengthening peer education, counseling and advocacy for women, by combating and reducing the stigma that accompanies HIV/AIDS;  Safe-T-Stops mitigate and prevent the spread of a disease that might otherwise sap these border communities of what could be a vibrant future.