An Africanews investigation in the five southern Malawian districts indicates that the railway project has increased the migration of sex workers from other parts of Malawi including some from Zimbabwe and Mozambique following the better service charge the rail workers are offering to the prostitutes.

Some of the sex-workers interviewed at Zalewa in Neno said that some of the foreign railway workers were paying up to MK30, 000 (US$110) for a night spent with a sex worker.

A sex worker that identified herself as Edith Mbewe said she had travelled all the way from Lilongwe in central Malawi attracted by the good pay the railway workers were offering for the sexual services.

“Some of the rail workers can pay up to Mk 30,000 for a nights sexual service and this is more than what a sex worker can get in a week’s running,” she said.

While there is much excitement on the side of the sex-workers on their economic gains, the development has raised fears to the health community who believe the trend will bring in a new spate of HIV infections.

Edwin Polera District AIDS Coordinator for Neno District said that the development has forced the district’s AIDS coordinating team to form an epidemic taskforce that will embark on a sensitization excise to curb the immergence of new HIV infections.

“We have information that there is high sexual activity in the areas where the rail is passing and we are in a process of sensitizing the people on safer sex habits.

District commissioner for Neno Hamis Twabi was however humorous on the development, saying the completion of the rail way will see a number of mixed race children born in the area.

“When such big projects are taking place in an area you have to expect the change of people’s life style,” he said.

He however was quick to point out that aside the few negative impacts, the rail network would greatly lift the social economic lives of the people of the district that is largely has poor agriculture productivity.

“The railway majorly is to transport coal, however the district is to benefit from the passenger station that is to be built at Symon which has a poor agricultural production,” he said.

Malawi has over 1 million people living with HIV and Neno and Mwanza districts are some of the districts hardly affected by the epidemic.