South Sudan health ministry combats prevalence of HIV/AIDS
December 2, 2010 (JUBA) – Health authorities in the regional government of south Sudan on Thursday commemorated World AID’s Day by saying it was committed to combating prevalence of HIV/AIDs by providing of more support to people infected victims.
Speaking to Sudan Tribune in the regional capital of Juba, Southern health minister Dr. Luka Monoja Tombe, said more efforts would be made in provision of treatment in collaboration with the private sector and charity organizations.
“There is a great need of exerts to jointly combat this deadly disease by all means. This is the disease which does not discriminate against tribe, region or gender. It does not know whether you are a black or white. It does not know whether you are a Muslims or Christian, as it is a disease against all races and nationalities, so it must be fought against by all races. The war against HIV/AIDS is a unifying war,” explained Tombe.
According to Tombe, the government of south Sudan will also strive to ensure that there is a sound policy and legal framework to curb further spread of the disease.
“We are here brainstorming about the AIDS pandemic which has for the past quarter century adversely affected social and economic well-being of our people and the region… we are here to examine how our people and the region all together have been affected by HIV/AIDS,” he said.
He was, however, confident that the government has undertaken efforts to curb the scourge, citing a report released by UNICEF, which he said commended the regional government of south Sudan for making big strides in awareness in various sectors and rural areas.
The minister said that the south was trying to combat the disease through provision of information. He said that this had been particular difficult in remote rural areas.
Tombe said he was pleased with areas which managed to contain HIV/AIDS transmission below five per cent and urged them to intensify the fight against the killer disease, urging that all programmes aimed at fighting the scourge be allocated more funds under the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF).
He called on South Sudan Aids Commission to cooperate with regional authorities to set up short, medium and long term plans to lessen and eventually eradicate new infections.
The minister said the SSAC was concerned that there were some groups in which the transmission of the sexually transmitted disease was occurring at an alarming rate. Such groups, he said, include people who frequently travel and spend more time outside their families namely pastoralists, long-distance drivers, fishermen as well as people working in the mining, tourism and construction sectors.
On his part, the newly appointed deputy HIV/AIDS Chairperson, Dr Achol Ayom, said voluntary testing in the south had seen more women (60.5%) tested than men.
He also noted that early sex for boys and girls below 15 years of age had dropped while the number of people with multiple partners between the age of 15 and 49 had also gone down.
The official further added that the number of people on anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs in the region has dropped by almost half between 2008 and 2010.
In his speech to mark the World AIDS Day (WAD on Wednesday, he said 654 people received the life prolonging drugs between 2008-2010 but the number dropped to 351 patients at present due to a number of reasons including deaths and users who decided to abandon treatment.
Nationally, Sudan’s HIV/AIDs prevalence is believed to be around 1.6%.
(ST)