New Delhi (PTI): Away from homes and families, they spend hours at the wheels and this tiring schedule of millions of truckers drive them to unsafe sex, making them a potential target of HIV/AIDS.

The nearly five-million strong population of truck drivers and other crew are considered a potential medium for transporting AIDS virus from high-risk groups like sex workers to their regular partners or wives.

To thwart the menace of the "rippling" spread of HIV/AIDS, the National Aids Control Organisation has launched a programme for HIV prevention among truckers.

The programme launched by NACO under its National Aids Control Programme–III involves raising AIDS awareness and promoting safe sex through use of condoms at transport hubs in the country, Dr A K Khera, Additional Director General NACO told PTI.

A total number of 131 such locations have been identified across the country and NACO has tied up with the Transport Corporation of India for technical and logistical support for execution of the programme.

In the national capital, it has identified three areas Azadpur Sabji Mandi, Tughlakabad container depot and transport centre, all the three places see heavy movement of truckers.

The truckers are a critical group because of their "mobility with HIV", said Dr. Khera and can carry the virus from high prevalence areas to a lower ones.

Dr. Khera said the AIDS prevalence among truckers and the migrant population is nearly three times higher than that among the general population. Among sex workers this rate is more than 10 times higher as compared to the general population.

"Quite often these truckers are clients or partners of male and female sex workers because of their separation from regular partners for long time. Such sex practices make them vulnerable to sexually transmitted disease which they can transmit to other persons," Dr. Khera said.

He said that women constitute forty per cent of the total of 2.3 million HIV positive people in the country.

The TCI, which is among the Technical Support Group of NACO, has already been conducting a programme – Project Kavach – among the truck drivers and other staff under the grant from the India AIDS initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The project which covers eight states along the national highways 2 and 9, is working for implementation of a large scale effective HIV preventive intervention among the truckers.

In the capital, the Delhi State Aids Control Society has been given a task to identify NGOs and community based organisations for the execution of the targeted intervention programme among the truckers.

"Being a bustling commercial hub, nearly 35,000 long-distance truckers station in Delhi everyday and therefore it is critical to make them aware about the HIV/AIDS and promote safe sexual practices," said A K Gupta of Delhi State Aids Control Society.