Mwanza: A high-risk corridor

Malawi’s border district of Mwanza there is seldom one way to go—except many are risky as the world is vying to reduce HIV infections.

Just arrived? Departing for Mozambique, Zimbabwe or South Africa? The dangers of acquiring or spreading the virus which causes Aids abound. Staying put, clubbing, doing business or working in the district? Again you could be at either end of the trends of infection.

Anything from age-old cross-border trade and transportation to a fledging sex market presents a perilous triangle that calls for targeted strategies to promote behavioural change and reduce infections in the country where about 10 of the population is HIV-positive, according to the National Aids Commission (NAC).

But as far as Loreta Nkwichi is aware, you can add workers from abroad and various parts of the country who are constructing a $1 billion (about K360 billion) railway line from Kachaso in Chikhwawa to Nkaya in Balaka to a heightening arrival of migrants that make Mwanza and Neno what Malawi Network of People Living with HIV (Manet+) calls “high-risk corridors”.

“The new railway that passes through Mwanza and Neno has increased money circulation and people in need of sex workers. Even women from as far as Blantyre, Mulanje and Lilongwe have come to camp in Mwanza in search of a better market. To us, this means a heightened risk of contracting HIV as well,” says Nkwichi, who heads a countrywide alliance of sex workers.

The surge of risky sex bargains come clear at sunset, particularly in pubs where the construction workers, transporters cross-border traders and sex workers meet locals from Neno and Mwanza rural, some of whom have pocketed thousands of kwachas in compensations for being displaced by the railway line under construction.

“Before the start of the railway project two years ago, sex business was so slow that some of us were charging between K1 000 and K2 200 per night, but now there is a lot of money exchanging hands and the demand for sex is high that we charge anything from K5 000 to K10 000 depending on whether the client is willing to use condoms or not,” said the sex worker.

Limbikani Lodge officials confirmed evicting 30 sex workers who had camped at his facility for about two months—a first in 20 years of the hideout’s existence, they said. Lodge manager Anafi John says the evictees were not only endangering the lodge’s business but also their lives and clients who may be breadwinners.

As lodging facilities become havens of risky sexual practices, sex trade continues to blossom. Even underage girls, who should be in school and under parental care, are joining in to cash in on the migrant workers who may want to engage in transactional sex largely because they are working and living for months away from their spouses.

The influx of migrant workers and disposable income presents a fresh challenge, says Manet+ director Safari Mbewe.

“Mwanza has become a hotspot of attention, albeit for wrong reasons which call on government to take up charge of ensuring that national responses to HIV and Aids do not leave out any gaps, cracks and loopholes for any stakeholders, perpetrators and actors to fall through,” said Mbewe in a press statement.

Taming the risks

The National HIV Action Framework categorises cross-border traders, long-distance drivers, sex workers and construction workers among the highly at-risk populations due to the mobile nature of their work. This calls for special strategies and action, it reads.

Malawi Red Cross Society and Bridge II Project and Save the Children are some of the non-governmental organisations that help sensitise commercial sex workers and their customers to behavioural change as way of curbing HIV infections in the fast-growing district where sex work has always been a major concern, according to ex-district commissioner (DC) Paul Gwedemula.

Red Cross project manager Leornado Maganga says the terrifying foursome requires a rapid departure from conventional strategies to streamlined approaches towards safeguarding prone populations, including town residents.

“Even without a study, it is no secret that construction of the railway has brought a lot of money and adults who left their spouses at home to work in the district. Now we are witnessing a rising demand for transactional sex as sex workers, including minors [under 18], who are lodging in the border town or near camps,” said Maganga.

He warns that if nothing happens as a matter of urgency some of the mobile populations will continue acquiring or spreading sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. At worst, those infected may in turn affect their spouses when the railway construction is over.

The feared snowball effect of the simmering sex ties resembles the multiple and concurrent sexual relationships a 2010 One-Love study Sadc conducted in 10 member countries, including Malawi, cited as a major driver of HIV infection.

Mwanza district Aids coordinator Anastazio Matewere says the district’s HIV prevalence is declining—quoting the 2010 Demographic and Health Survey which shows a slight reduction from 11 percent in 2005 to 8.99 percent.

Nonetheless, Mwanza DC Gift Lapozo realises that the construction project could be a cause of misfortune if not properly handled.

“While some are profiting from the opportunities the new railway presents, others are excited with the money and they may live to regret the decisions they make without proper thought,” he warns.

Worrisomely, the DC indicated that there were no special strategies to supplement general interventions as the British II project which targets sex workers and other at-risk populations to promote behavioral change.

Employers’ task

Launched by President Joyce Banda last year, the Vale-sponsored railway line is expected to be completed by December next year.

Meanwhile, Manet+ says the complexities the railway presents to Mwanza, with a population of about 100 997, requires construction firms to “take up the mantle of their social responsibility” to contribute to the national HIV response by sensitising and protecting its workers.

According to Maganga, one of the firms pledged to keep its workers in camps but this is not helping matters as sex workers and poor girls have relocated to communities near the establishments.

Reducing HIV infections is a long-standing challenge in Mwanza. In 2009, police officers arrested sex workers and compelled them to undergo HIV tests whose results were made public without their consent. The episode of human rights abuse attracted worldwide condemnation and an ongoing court battle.

In her words, Nkwichi and other sex workers are alarmed with the business-as-usual attitude that they want the council and construction firms to wake up to intensify programmes aimed at raising awareness and safeguarding both residents and migrant communities at risk.