For dangerous sex enhancers
and infect their regular partners in their homes.”
Organisations such as Nectoi have run HIV-awareness programmes for 25 years, and many provide truckers with condoms and run health clinics along routes.
The question is why, despite knowing how to protect themselves, longhaul truckers still engage in highrisk sexual behaviour such as not using condoms.
Tofara Mavuwa, the Aids project manager of Nectoi, says the survey confirms earlier research indicating that alcohol consumption, particularly before sex, impairs a person’s judgement and leads to a failure to use condoms consistently.
Truckers are regulars at drinking places frequented by sex workers along the routes and tend to engage in high-risk behaviour.
But, Mavuwa says, they were surprised when the use of sexual enhancement substances featured along with the use of alcohol and the buying of sex as risk factors. “We were aware that drivers use sexual enhancement products but we did not know the extent of it,” he says.
About 31% of the long-distance drivers use the substances, the researchers found.
Khoza says drivers often do not get enough exercise and their diets consist of fast or roadside foods. This leads to obesity and diseases such as diabetes and hypertension.
“We know that one of the complications of these diseases, particularly diabetes, is impotency,” she says. This, in turn, explains the high use of these stimulants.
A big worry is the effect of the sexual enhancers, Mavuwa says. “In some cases they say they don’t need condoms when they use the sexual enhancers.”
The study shows that 7.6% of the men did not use condoms after taking the remedies.
“There are many reasons for that. Some men may believe the concoctions will safeguard them. We have also been told that sex workers will ask men to remove protection because the sex will carry on too long with a condom after using these sex enhancers,” Mavuwa says.
“We are worried that the use of the enhancers will lead to men having even more sexual partners.”
The Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe has clamped down on the illegal sale of sexual enhancement substances, its project officer, Shingai Gwatidzo, says.
In practice, this means raiding hot spots, confiscating street vendors’ products and prosecuting them.
But their suppliers — the thousands of truckers passing through Zimbabwe — are more difficult to police. Because the stimulants are smuggled into the country and sold illegally, Gwatidzo admits it “presents challenges in controlling the import and sale”.
A dedicated officer has been deployed at the Beitbridge border post to prevent illegal medicines from entering Zimbabwe from South Africa.
Aggressive public awareness campaigns in schools and churches and on social media warn users against the dangers of sex enhancers.
But while the truck drivers crisscrossing the country continue to use sex enhancers, the supply on the streets will remain.
The study into the sexual behaviour of long-distance truck drivers emphasises there should be a change in the factors leading to their risky behaviour.
The average time truckers are away from home should be reduced, the report recommends, and ultimately there should be minimum standards for a truck stop to reduce high-risk behaviour.
Khoza says North Star’s experience gained at its network of roadside clinics shows that when peer educators can speak directly — and in small groups — to the truckers, it has the most impact. But it is their working conditions that will have to improve, she warns.
In Harare, Mutopo is not worried that he will see a drop in business.
“After three babies, people are tired. These powders help them enjoy sex inside the house and out,” he claims.
And while modern food weakens men’s appetite for sex, Mutopo says, his sachets will sell.