A Lakes State official said there are more female than male turned up for HIV tests.
Director of HIV and AIDS in Lakes State Ministry of Health David Deng Yak told a meeting of HIV awareness stakeholders that over 8,000 women and 919 men were tested for HIV between January and August this year.He said that among all tested 207 were positive.
Lakes State Director of South Sudan Aids Commission Paul Thok Ayok said stigma and discrimination are the main issues in dealing with HIV and AIDS in South Sudan.
He encouraged those who tested positive to accept their situation.
Mr. Thok said AIDS is like a chronic disease that people live with for many years.
Lakes State Advisor for Gender, Adak Costa Mapuor, acknowledged the services given by different organizations in Lakes State in HIV and AIDS awareness programs to get the message to the grassroots.
Ms. Adak encouraged the organizations with better capacity to develop a manual with a set of guidelines targeting different groups in the awareness programs in Lakes State.