Improving Transnational Transport Corridors

In the OIC Member Countries: Concepts and Cases

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Figure 48: Overturned truck Mombasa-Nairobi highway Northern Transport Corridor Kenya

Source: Beatrice Obwocha, Nation Media Group.

The overturned truck shown in the photograph was taken on the Mombasa Highway. The accident

was due to driver fatigue.

Transport corridors undoubtedly pose a

public health

hazard through the spread of

communicable diseases. The NTTC is characterized by high HIV prevalence levels; there is

heavy and frequent movement of people across the Corridor, and there are challenges in the

health systems to meet the demand for HIV and AIDS services. Key drivers of HIV and AIDS

pandemic along the Corridor include structural, bio medical and structural reasons. Gaps and

challenges identified include poor access to health services, low level of HIV prevention

awareness, tight working schedules, stigma and discrimination, alcohol and drug abuse,

ignorance of individual HIV status, poverty, presence of commercial sex workers, irregular

condom supply and inadequate funding. There are several lessons learned from the health

interventions along the Corridor that can be replicated elsewhere if needed, but these are not

repeated here but can be read on the link given

Phytosanitary controls

are applied to the movement of plants, food stuffs and livestock

across borders, standards for which are not harmonized along the NTTC is a significant cause

of avoidable delays. Such constraints are commonly grouped under the heading of non-tariff-

barriers (NTBs). The UN Economic Commission for Africa, European Union and World Bank all

support the deepening integration of the region and the gradual elimination of NTBs, part of

which is the harmonization of sanitary and phytosanitary regulation and controls. These

agencies make the point that Kenya, Uganda and others may be over-regulating their trade.

Their research showed that frequency and coverage ratios for five different categories of rules

and regulations were compared across a selection of SSA countries. The categories of rules and

regulations, were (i) sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS), (ii) technical barriers to trade (TBT),