"1.2 Purpose of the study and its importanceIn response to an ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic in Southern/Eastern Africa, the researcher hastheorised that if it is possible to reduce the amount of time that trucks spend in transit throughAfrica, the potential opportunities for transmission of HIV/AIDS may be reduced.As such, thisresearch proposal seeks to answer the following question:What measures will reduce truck idle time while transiting Chirundu Border Post?The potential for a reduction of new HIV/AIDS infection rates will have far-reaching social,political and economic benefits.With over two million new HIV/AIDS infections occurringworldwide each year, there needs to be a multifaceted approach to dealing with the disease.Many non-governmental organisations are working to improve the lives of those already infectedwith HIV/AIDS – most prevention programs are currently focusing on the distribution ofcondoms and preaching abstinence and faithfulness.However, these approaches have been usedfor over fifteen years now with little real impact to the amount of new infections.Reducing orremoving the opportunities for new infections is a way to complement the work already beingdone in this area. While science is doing its best to develop better treatments and even vaccines for HIV/AIDS, it isimportant to do what is humanly possible to stop the spread as soon as we can, for the benefit ofthe world, and to give African countries a fighting chance against HIV/AIDS.4 1.3 Guiding questionsThe guiding questions for this research task will be:? What are the current transit times for:o Trucks with goods transiting Zambiao Trucks with single loadso Trucks with consolidated loads? How is this time broken down between different bureaucratic processes?? Are the ways that the processes themselves can be sped up and made more efficient?1.4 LimitationsThis study will be limited to one border post in Zambia, Southern Africa – that which linksZimbabwe and Zambia, in Chirundutownship.While the results of this research may apply toother border crossings in the region, the scope of the study must be limited in order to meetlogistical, cost and time constraints.The research will be conducted only on Northbound truck movements, as the crossing in questionis a One Stop Border Post and as such, Northbound traffic is processed entirely on the Zambianside of the Zambezi River. The study will be restricted to trucks only – no passenger vehicles or buses will be studied for thepurposes of this report.The trucks studied will be a combination of those transiting through Zambia, those importing toZambia with a full load for one customer, and those who are importing on consignment and assuch are carrying goods for multiple customers.5 The research task will not be studying past or current HIV/AIDS infection rates amongst anypopulation – either the general population or the specific high risk groups impacted by the bordercrossing procedures.This research will focus on the border procedures themselves, and as such, the role of the sexworkers in the HIV/AIDS transmission equation will not be studied in this research project.6 "