The Health Service Section of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan’s (UNMISS) Infectious Diseases and Public Health Unit is momentarily training 30 participants as Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) change agents in Kuajok town, Warrap State.
The ten-day training which drew participants from the state health ministry, state general secretariat, and state legislative assembly commenced on 10 June and ended on Thursday.
James Kon Akol, the representative of the Warrap State Ministry of Health, said the training aimed to empower health workers, lawmakers, and senior staff from secretariat general with knowledge and skills to reduce new HIV infections through preventive measures and how to avoid stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV.
“We have been here for the last ten days to receive this important message about HIV and AIDS. Our number is small but when disseminate the message to others, the number of those who will get knowledge will increase, he said. “HIV/AIDS is not new because it has been here with us all this time and it goes together with tuberculosis (TB) because both reduce human immunity and then other simple diseases can get a chance of defeating the human being’s defensive system.”
Kon thanked UNMISS) for their support to the state health ministry and said the prevention of HIV/AIDS is not a one-man task but a collective responsibility. He said HIV is ignored by people without proper knowledge and urged everyone to test and know their status and encourage people living with HIV to take their drugs as prescribed.
For his part, Luka Thiony, the representative of the Warrap State Legislative Assembly at the training, urged the agents of change to inform colleagues in their institutions about the prevalence of HIV in society.
“Start awareness about HIV from your institutions. I have learned how normal it is to live with HIV for years when you take drugs constantly,” he stated. “As a member of parliament, we will formulate laws that will protect people living with HIV in case others discriminate against them in the community.”
Meanwhile, Janice Frances Nankaayi, the UNMISS head of the field office in Warrap State, recommended that the number of peer leaders should be increased to reach more people at the grassroots.
“The number of participants is small and the more the numbers, the more people will be reached with information about HIV,” she said. “You need to also include the Ministry of Social Development because they are social mobilizers who can be used as councilors. Young people should also be included in the training so that they reach their peers and share the message of HIV and AIDS.”
Asunta Adut, one of the participants who is a counselor at Kuajok Hospital, said the training empowered her with knowledge about the prevention of HIV and how to avoid discrimination against people with HIV.
“We were taught how to promote awareness about HIV in our communities, how to protect youth and teach them how to use condoms to avoid infections and how to manage mother-to-child infection during delivery,” she explained. “Finally, we were taught how we should treat people living with HIV and AIDS.”
Another participant, John Malok, said the local communities lack information about HIV and that they benefited a lot from the training.