Blog
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World AIDS Day
December 8, 2009
The Duk Lost Boys Clinic hosted its first-ever event for World AIDS Day on December 1. World AIDS Day happened to occur the same day that a medical team from the John Dau Foundation arrived to inspect the Clinic’s operations and help train staff.
Immediately after getting off the plane, the team headed to the village square, where the community gathered to welcome the visitors and thank them for their work in constructing a health clinic. Clinic staff led the program, and several community leaders spoke about the importance of HIV/AIDS prevention. The local commander of the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army told the group that the Sudanese did not sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (which ended the 21-year civil war in Sudan in 2005) just to see children die of AIDS. Local leaders and dignitaries wore red AIDS ribbons to commemorate the day, and AIDS prevention posters hung throughout the village.
The Duk Lost Boys Clinic has two staff members at the Clinic trained in Voluntary Counseling and Testing of AIDS, one of whom is the Clinic’s dedicated HIV/AIDS program manager, Mark Kuany. The Clinic hopes to begin providing testing and treatment services by early next year if it can secure testing strips and Anti-Retro Viral (ARV) medicines, which will make the Clinic the first and only provider of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services in the region.
Tom Dannan, Director of Development for the John Dau Foundation, stands next to a poster advertising World AIDS Day in Duk Payuel, South Sudan
