Cambodia to tackle Aids with driving test

The Cambodian government is to include questions about Aids/HIV in driving tests as part of a bid to tackle the disease among long-distance lorry drivers.

A total of 12 questions on the disease will be included in the driver's license exams set by the Ministry of Public Works and Transport.

Financial support for the project is being donated by the Asian Development Bank, the Phnom Penh Post reports.

Ung Chun Hour, director general of transport at the ministry, told the newspaper that the Cambodian health department's National Aids Authority is also working on the scheme.

"It is important that drivers - particularly professional drivers - know about HIV/Aids. Professional truck drivers live far from home and are more likely to use sex partners," he added.

Figures from the World Health Organization suggest that the country has been "quite successful" at tackling the spread of the disease, with HIV rates among brothel-based sex workers falling from 44.7 per cent in 1996 to 14.7 per cent in 2006.

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