Blog
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HIV/AIDS in South Sudan
December 23, 2009
The whole world knows about the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Over the past decade, awareness has grown to household knowledge in the West about the disease—how it’s transmitted, its effects on the body, and what it has wrecked throughout the world—there still remain people who have never heard of the disease or who know little about it, let alone have access to education, testing, and treatment services. One such place is Duk County, South Sudan, where the John Dau Foundation’s Duk Lost Boys Clinic (DLBC) is located. Duk County is home to more than 65,000 people who recently have returned from refugee camps and are rebuilding their lives after a 20-year civil war forced them from the land.
This month, the DLBC began the first HIV/AIDS program ever in Duk County, and possibly the only one in all of Jonglei State. Mark Kuany, a 29 year-old from Duk and the DLBC’s translator and receptionist was recently trained in Voluntary Counseling and Testing, a certification necessary to conduct testing and treatment for HIV/AIDS. Mark began this month as the Clinic’s HIV/AIDS Program Manager. The social effects of the disease can easily be overlooked—many people throughout the world may be banished or commit suicide once they learn of their infection. In other cases, people become violent or spread the disease to others.
Last Saturday, as the sounds of people practicing for Christmas celebrations played in the background, the Clinic staff sat and discussed the problem, what the Clinic’s new testing protocol would be, and how they would educate people about the disease. The gravity of the situation is evident—this is a place where no services have ever existed, yet such a serious problem as this one is evident now—several people have already tested positive for the disease in the area. Estimates for South Sudan put the infection rate around 3%, which is high but still much lower than neighboring countries. The area sits on a razor’s edge—the actions by the Clinic and the community, if well-calculated and with sufficient resources, could create a fence around the area and protect it from heading as so many other communities throughout Africa have.
About a dozen people from the Clinic set out Sunday to begin spreading the message. Breaking into small groups, each went to three separate churches in the area and delivered a message to the congregation. “This is a wonderful place,” said Peter Thion-go, the Clinic’s laboratory technician, to a congregation of about 70 in Patuenoi, about 5k from the Clinic. “We want to see your children grow up to be professors and doctors,” at which a row of children in the front smiled. Peter comes from Kenya, a country that has suffered greatly from the unchecked spread of the disease, with about 7% of the population infected. “I don’t want to see what happened in Kenya happen in Sudan,” he said, to which the congregation cheered. Joh Deng, the Clinic’s Manager and a native of Patuenoi, urged each person to “build a fence around themselves.”
Another person likened it to the coming of Christmas—“Before Jesus came, there was darkness in the world. He came and brought the people out of darkness to the light. There still remains a darkness in this world and in this community. It’s called HIV/AIDS. And again, a light has been brought to this community to bring the people out of darkness. Don’t resist it.”
Gabriel Manyok, the Clinic’s outreach coordinator and a 26 year-old native of Duk, is working on a youth drama club program which will bring youth from throughout the county to teach them about HIV/AIDS. The youths will then go out and perform skits to their communities, educating through about the disease through this very popular cultural medium.
A limited amount of voluntary testing is now being carried out, mostly for pregnant mothers. This represents the fragile beginning which carries with it real hope that the community of Duk Payuel can rise above all the tragic stories that have become all-too-common throughout Africa. Amongst all the bad news, here is a chance for one African community to really take a stand against such a deadly disease in a place that needs it so badly.
