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More than 100 new cases of PVV identified in displaced persons sites around Goma
Published on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 12:06 | Modified on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 12:06
More than 100 new cases of people living with HIV/AIDS have been identified in displaced persons sites around Goma, in North Kivu.
These figures were published following a survey carried out in these sites at the beginning of the year by the National Multi-Sectoral Programme to Combat HIV and AIDS (PNMLS).
In an attempt to limit the spread of this disease, the coordinator of the PNMLS in North Kivu, Aubin Mongili, would like humanitarian organizations to integrate the HIV AIDS fund into the assistance package for displaced persons.
If the HIV issue is not quickly integrated into the humanitarian support package for displaced people, their camps risk becoming hotbeds for the spread of this disease. This is what coordinator Aubin Mongili fears, after a few days of voluntary screening carried out in 10 displaced people's sites around Goma.
"We had 113 cases of HIV positive in the different sites combined. That troubled us. Here, these are new cases. And we also had 480 old cases. And what hurts us even more, these people do not have access to antiretrovirals (ARVs). Having the high rate of people living with HIV in the sites makes the sites even more vulnerable," explains Mr. Mongili.
He adds that if nothing is done urgently, at the end of the war, an infected population will return to the territories.
He proposes that any project supported by the Humanitarian Fund in the DRC take into account the aspect of HIV.
Published on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 12:06 | Modified on Tue, 01/14/2025 - 12:06
More than 100 new cases of people living with HIV/AIDS have been identified in displaced persons sites around Goma, in North Kivu.
These figures were published following a survey carried out in these sites at the beginning of the year by the National Multi-Sectoral Programme to Combat HIV and AIDS (PNMLS).
In an attempt to limit the spread of this disease, the coordinator of the PNMLS in North Kivu, Aubin Mongili, would like humanitarian organizations to integrate the HIV AIDS fund into the assistance package for displaced persons.
If the HIV issue is not quickly integrated into the humanitarian support package for displaced people, their camps risk becoming hotbeds for the spread of this disease. This is what coordinator Aubin Mongili fears, after a few days of voluntary screening carried out in 10 displaced people's sites around Goma.
"We had 113 cases of HIV positive in the different sites combined. That troubled us. Here, these are new cases. And we also had 480 old cases. And what hurts us even more, these people do not have access to antiretrovirals (ARVs). Having the high rate of people living with HIV in the sites makes the sites even more vulnerable," explains Mr. Mongili.
He adds that if nothing is done urgently, at the end of the war, an infected population will return to the territories.
He proposes that any project supported by the Humanitarian Fund in the DRC take into account the aspect of HIV.