As South Sudan marked World AIDS Day on 1 December, people living with the virus in Western Bahr el Ghazal State appealed for support and urged the public not to stigmatize them.
While commemorating the day on Wednesday in Wau Town, Karmela Gabriel, the representative of the people living with HIV/AIDS in the state called for support and to stop stigma against people living with the virus across the country and the world.
“We have failed to support the people living with the virus. We need to work with courage because this is our nation no one from outside there can work for us,” she said. “It is necessary for us to support those helping us instead of leaving everything in their hands.”
For his part, the state chairperson of the people living with HIV/AIDS, Hussein Miskin Hajar, urged parents to stop the stigma.
“When we talk about stigma and discrimination, these signal bad habits and the theme of this year is ‘Take the rights path: My health, my right’ so, where is the right path? If you need to know the right path, this is what we are doing because these people are persevering with the current economic situation” he said. “They have a program to move, they have to struggle and they have their cooperatives and they are more ready but where is the support,”?
Hajar called upon the public not to have a stigma against people living with HIV.
“We need to teach people with a culture of love that does not involve discrimination,” he said. “Do not point fingers at someone saying this person is infected with HIV, this is a great mistake.”