War promoting HIV/AIDS in southern Sudan – Minister

KAMPALA, Uganda, Dec 14, 2004 (PANA) — Sudan’s long running war has raised
HIV/AIDS prevalence among youths, women, and children — the
most vulnerable groups in violent situations, Sudan’s health
minister, Ahmed Bilal Osman, said here Tuesday.

Osman, who is leading an official delegation on a weeklong study
tour of Uganda to learn it’s HIV/AIDS fighting strategy, said the
scourge had dealt a big blow on the vast country’s southerners —
who have been fighting his government for over two decades now.

“The number of people living with HIV/AIDS is growing, especially
among the youth, women and children because of the conflict in
southern Sudan,” Osman told PANA.

“We have more HIV/AIDS victims in southern Sudan, the capital
Khartoum and the east — where refugees are concentrated,” he
added, falling short of giving statistics.

He also attributed the high prevalence to the ill usage of
condoms, one of the widely applied intervention in the fight
against HIV/AIDS across the globe, though of late it is an
intervention under immense criticism led by the Catholic Church.

“We have a problem in condom use among our citizens. This is why
we have come here to learn from you what you have been doing, so
that we can apply it in our country,” Osman said.