Fozia fights back against HIV

Weak and unable to walk, Fozia Bullen, from Nagbaka village in South Sudan, had lost all hope when she reached Maridi Hospital, one of the few antiretroviral therapy centers in the country for people living with HIV. Her doctor said she had reached an acute level of the disease, with severe body rashes, chronic diarrhea, loss of appetite, and severe weight loss.

After one month of treatment, however, Fozia was discharged in better health and continues taking medication at home. After four months of treatment, her rashes were gone, her diarrhea stopped, and she reached 80 percent of her normal weight, which has enabled her to carry out daily work, tend to her gardens, and provide for her family.

Fozia is a beneficiary of the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) project to combat HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in South Sudan.

So far the project has given HIV training and education to more than 140,000 young people. Additionally, 84,000 people have been tested and counseled for HIV and 3,835 HIV positive patients are currently undergoing antiretroviral therapy.

This is the only project in South Sudan that provides antiretroviral therapy for people living with HIV. So far, nine antiretroviral therapy centers have been established across the country, and this number is expected to double by the project's end in 2011.

The project is funded with a grant of more than US$8.5 million from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria - a partner of UNDP.

This major effort by the UNDP to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Sudan has been remarkably successful in a region impoverished by more than 20 years of conflict. Peace remains fragile in South Sudan, which suffers from a lack of basic services and infrastructure, a depressed economy, weak governance and legal systems, and a returning population of refugees who were forced to flee the country during the conflict. 

UNDP works closely with the national authorities to govern the HIV/AIDS response initiative and place it at the centre of its human development agenda by mainstreaming the initiative into national development plans, budgets and poverty reduction strategies.