A South African non-governmental organisation, North Star Foundation, in conjunction with the Batsirai group of Zimbabwe, has set up an in-transit sexually transmitted infections clinic at the Beit Bridge border post.

The clinic, which started operating in August, is mainly targeting trucks passing through the border post.

The nurse in charge of the clinic, Mrs Sethekele Hove, said the main objective of the facility was to help conscientise the local community about the dangers of HIV and Aids as well as offer treatment to people suffering from sexually transmitted infections. “The services that we offer are free of charge. We want to educate people on ways of preventing the spread of HIV and Aids and we are mainly targeting border towns, largely because that is where there is a lot of movement by truck drivers, and sex workers also prefer operating in such places,” she said.

Hove said the clinic also catered for the local community. During the first month, the clinic assisted a total of 570 patients “The community’s response has been very good and we normally handle an average of 30 patients per day. Most of them are truck drivers and commercial sex workers, who also happen to be our major target in this project,” she said.

The clinic, which is situated along the highway linking Musina and Beit Bridge town, operates from 11:00 until 22:00. “This is largely because we want to accommodate our target groups, who normally operate during that time. You will find that these groups also play a major role in spreading the message about the deadly disease, including educating people about the dangers of casual sex,” she added.

The clinic, however, does not administer anti-retroviral drugs or conduct HIV and Aids testing.

“At the moment we do not treat chronic illness. We will only start offering more services in the next three months,” Hove said.

Beit Bridge, by virtue of being the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa, continues to attract sex workers from various countries in the SADC region and it is rated among one of the worst-affected areas in terms of HIV and Aids.