HIV Prevalence in South Sudan: Data from the ANC Sentinel Surveillance 2009

ABSTRACT

Data on the prevalence of HIV and syphilis was collected from 24 ante-natal care clinic (ANC) sentinel sites in all 10 states of South Sudan during the three months September to December 2009. The overall sample size was 6175 pregnant women; however; only 5913 samples were tested for HIV of which 176 (3) were positive. Interestingly; the age groups 15-24 years accounted for almost half (49.5) of the overall sample size of this ANC 2009 Survey distributed between the age group 15-19 years with 18.6of the overall sample and the age group 20-24 years accounting for 30.9of the total sample size. The prevalence of HIV was 2.3(n=25) in the 15-19 year age group and 3.3(n=59) in the 20-24 year age group. The prevalence of syphilis was 7.6(n=74) in the) in the 15-19 year age group and 9.6(n=183) in the 20-24 year age group. The HIV prevalence among the young women aged 15-24 years was 2.9compared to the overall HIV prevalence among all age groups of 3. Similarly the syphilis prevalence among 15-24 year old women was 28.4compared to the overall survey syphilis prevalence of 9.9. In conclusion; the post conflict ANC surveillance showed an HIV prevalence of 3and the experience had shed some light; proved and disregarded a wide range of assumptions with regards to HIV distribution in the country. Despite all challenges; the routine ANC surveillance system; in the context of South Sudan; is very promising in provision of timely relevant information and can be used to monitor the trend over time