Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi. (Photo: MoH).

Vice President Hussein Abdelbagi said on Monday that HIV/AIDs remains a significant public health concern in South Sudan with 140,000 people living with the disease in the country.

Abdelbagi – the Chairperson of the Service Cluster – revealed that the Ministry of Health recorded 8,100 new infections in 2023 alone, with the enforcement of prevention measures slowed down by limited funding.

The vice president stated that awareness campaigns must be initiated among communities to sensitize populations about the importance and treatment of the virus.

“The government is mindful that HIV remains a major public health challenge in South Sudan, with about 140,000 people living with HIV and 8,100 new HIV infections in 2023,” he said at the opening session of a high-level dialogue on HIV/AIDs prevention in Juba.

“The country is still confronted with major barriers to scaling up comprehensive HIV prevention measures, contributing to the slower reduction in new HIV infections and undermining the overall goals to achieving epidemic control in the country.”

According to the vice president, various assessments indicated that several challenges are limiting progress in HIV prevention including underfunding of HIV prevention programs dependency on external support.

On her part, National Minister of Health Yolanda Awel called on the national government and partners to embark on action-based approach in fighting the epidemic.

Awel suggested a high-level government commitment to eradicate the disease through increased funding to the health sector.

“We need to talk in action, not just beautiful words on paper. This is what we have been doing for almost two decades. It is time to actually up our game,” she said.

“By upping our game, we need to roll up our sleeves for results to be realized. This involves all the stakeholders. And it involves us, like in the government, and to show the highest level of the commitment, and to show that the government is highly committed.”