HIV infection rates decline in Jonglei State

By Jacob Bol

An official of a HIV/AIDS Commission in Jonglei State has confirmed a significant decline in the rate of HIV infection from 1.3% to 0.4%, and attributed the decline to increased access to health care.

Ajak Mach, the State Coordinator at the Commissions of HIV/AIDS and TB, urged the publice to abstain and suspect everyone to be HIV/AIDS positive until tested before having sexual intercourse.

 Also, he appealed for support to people living with HIV and not to be traumatized as the disease is just like any other disease.

“We have an external sanitarium that studies the cases of HIV/AIDS in Panrial, Akobo, Bor State Hospital, Poktop and Twic East and Duk Lost Boy Hospital and the studies take four months. There are forms and people test then all the samples are taken to Juba,” said Ajak.

He noted that most health facilities have been reopened after they were closed down during the conflict and flooding season.

Ajak said the reopening of those health units has enabled people to have access to health care, which resulted in a reduction in the rate of HIV infections.

According to the World Health Organization, since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, 88.4 million people have been infected with HIV and 42.3 million people have died of the disease.

Globally, around 40 million people were living with HIV in 2023. An estimated 0.6% of adults aged 15–49 years worldwide are living with HIV, although the burden of the epidemic continues to vary considerably between countries and regions. The WHO says the African region remains the most severely affected, with one in every 30 adults (3.4%) living with HIV and accounting for two-thirds of the people living with HIV worldwide.