By Yobu Annet
HIV/AIDS remains a major threat in a post conflict society such as Southern Sudan despite the extensive civic education programme mounted by several civil society organizations. That the scourge has continued to quietly conspire with increased poverty levels in the war torn region is not only evidenced by the high bed number occupancy in most health facilities but, also by the number of orphans left behind after their parents succumb to HIV/AIDS.
The reality is that many more people continue getting infected besides the already overwhelming number of patients who cannot easily access the anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs available in the few surviving health facilities across Southern Sudan.
On a Sunday evening, ‘The People’s Voice’ caught up with Agnes Mering; she is in her early fifties and a widow following the demise of her husband, a former soldier. As the sole bread winner for her six children, Mering braves Southern Sudan’s baking sun to till her small piece of land. “My children and I have to survive. I am struggling to raise money to feed them. As for school, I cannot afford school fees for my six children”, she said as her hoe cracks the ground.
Mering recalls the sad death of her husband whom she says succumbed to HIV/AIDS way back in 2007. According to Agnes her late husband contracted the disease many years back during the bush war. “Just before he became weakened, he advised me and my co-wife to go for blood tests and we were both found to be HIV positive”, she revealed with some distress. Despite all the challenges standing before her, Agnes maintains that she is not about to give up as her children have no one else they can depend on now apart from her.
Agnes is actually luckier than most; her brother-in-law has done much to help her. She said, “my brother-in-law advised me to join him in Juba, where I can easily get access to free counseling and even ARV drugs”. She praised her brother-in- law who has looked after her through many hardships and says she does not know what she would have done without him.
Agnes recounts how she got involved in stone quarrying in order to try and support her family. “I tried stone quarrying but gave up because it was affecting my health, because of the heavy dust from the mines”, she says. Agnes has also been relying on food rations offered by the World Food Program through the Sudan Council of Churches. “It is not enough and I have to supplement it with manual labour,” she states.
She advises her fellow Southern Sudanese against leading promiscuous lifestyles, which might put them at risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. “I can confidently tell anyone that condoms should be used as a protective measure instead of risking their lives. HIV/AIDS is a real killer. I know some people still do not believe that the disease kills but, I can tell them that this is a real threat to all of us”, she advises.
