The Minister of Defense and Veterans’ Affairs, Kuol Manyang Juk, has urged members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to test for HIV in order to know their status whether they are “positive” or “negative” after he was tested HIV “negative” amidst warm applause from the soldiers and the visitors from the WHO, UN and the rest.
The testing kits were taken to the soldiers and Minister Kuol Manyang was the first to demonstrate it by testing for his status. “Now I am testing for HIV, after twenty minutes my result will be out, if I am found positive, I would go to the doctors to take medicine in order to stay longer,” Kuol Manyang said as he tested for his status.
He was addressing the soldiers at the army general headquarters at Bipham during the announcement of verdicts by the SPLA General Court-Martial.
The Minister who was accompanied by visitors from South Sudan AIDS Commission, WHO, UN AIDS organization and a UPDF officer from Uganda, demonstrated practically the voluntary HIV testing exercise.
He has urged members of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) to test for HIV in order to know their status whether they are “positive” or “negative”.
The Minister was addressing the soldiers yesterday at the army general headquarters at Bipham during the announcement of verdicts by the SPLA General Court-Martial.
He seized the opportunity as he received visitors from the United Nations AIDS Organisation, World Health Organisation (WHO), the South Sudan AIDS Commission and an officer in charge of AIDS department at the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF), who was also visiting South Sudan.
“Our number one enemy is disease, especially HIV and AIDS is our number one enemy in the world and in South Sudan. Malaria and TB are also other enemies of ours that is why our population is less than China, which is the most populous country in the world,” Kuol Manyang told the soldiers.