HIV prevalence rate drops to 2.8 pct in DR Congo's South Kivu province

The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in South Kivu province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has dropped from 4.1 percent to 2.8 percent in the last 10 years between 2001 and 2011, an official from the National Program for the Fight Against HIV/AIDS (PNMLS) said on Wednesday. The PNMLS/South Kivu coordinator Ngwasi Kilimalima who was speaking during the presentation of a report on the humanitarian situation in the province, said that since 2004, the province has benefited from efforts initiated by his organization in collaboration with other social actors, to reduce the spread of the disease. In the report, Ngwasi pointed out some of the challenges that his organization was faced with, especially the problem of coordinating the activities of its partners. Some partners, he lamented, execute their programs outside of the general plan developed by PNMLS. He further indicated that the drastic reduction of funding from external sources for the fight against HIV/AIDS was also a major challenge for the PNMLS/South Kivu. In addition, it was revealed that conflicts between different foreign rebel groups and some Congolese militia in this part of the country as well as the high number of rape cases had directly contributed to the spread of the disease in South Kivu.