World AIDS Day commemorated in Juba under the theme: Take the Rights Path
By Ajah Jenniffer
Mr. Lole Laila Lole, the longest living HIV patient in the country, has been living with the virus for almost 30 years, having contracted the disease in 1995.
Lole is a representative of people living with HIV, and faced discriminations from the beginning, due to people’s lack of knowledge on HIV and AIDS. “From the beginning, HIV was considered an assassination but later on, after cancelling and understanding of HIV and AIDS in 2004, we were able to access an antiviral drug, and then it responded,” he said.
Lole reckoned the early 1980s and 90s, which, he says, was a tough period for HIV patients but a drastic change was seen in the country with growing campaign for prevention and action against stigma during his 8 years of working in South Sudan.
Today, Lole has offices in ten states in the country including Warrap, Bentiu and Western Equatoria. He has shared and heard experiences from various individuals, including one who had his children sent out of school due to their HIV status.
“Most of them remain ignorant if they are not served with the right knowledge. Imagine sending someone away because of their status,” he wondered.
Laila elaborated that stigma was not only faced by HIV-AIDs patients, but a widely spread challenge, which, has to be eradicated through creating awareness and advocacies. He has become an integral part of the campaign and works to ensure HIV patients have access to medical and emotional support.
Various guests and leaders, who attended the event, offered significant views on the progress made in tackling the disease, as well as the milestones and the challenges encountered.
HE. Hussein Abdelbagi, the Vice President and Chairperson of the service cluster in his opening remarks, said that HIV prevention was the main goal and advised the youth to create awareness as well as find out their HIV status.
Dr. Esterina Novello, the Chairperson of the South Sudan HIV/AIDS commission, said the commission intends to keep their promise of ending the spread of HIV by 2030 and highlighted the need for support from stakeholders.
There are 30.8 million people living with HIV in the world, with 630,000 deaths in AIDS-related illnesses reported in 2023 according to an AIDS report. Additionally, 1.3 million people were newly affected, which is three times the target set in the prevention roadmap of 2025. In the case of South Sudan, NSP estimated that South Sudan has 140,000 people who are living with HIV, Women and girls account for 2% (7:28) of the new HIV infections in South Sudan.
Current financing remains a significant constraint, with less than 1% of the national budget allocated to HIV response.
