It is worth reading the new Disease Control Priorities chapter on mental health: http://dcp-3.org/mentalhealth For reasons I don’t understand, they put substance use disorders under ‘illicit drug dependence’. This is irrational and unscientific. The legality or illegality of drugs is not important. And dependence is an old legal term. It is sobering to read that […]

I’ve heard that some people in Myanmar do not think that the HIV epidemic among people who inject drugs in Myanmar is out of control. Data from the National AIDS Programme shows that it is getting worse. HIV prevalence in people who inject drugs in Yangon and Taunggyi doubled between 2013 and 2014. It went […]

Myanmar, Indonesia, and Vietnam all have severe HIV epidemics among people who inject drugs. And many of them have hepatitis C coinfection. Universal access to treatment is needed now. Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ Bristol-Myers Squibb to Support AmeriCares and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Inc. in a New Program Aimed at Treating Patients Co-infected with Hepatitis C […]

World Malaria Day yesterday is a good day to remember that malaria does not respect international borders. Here is an article and research paper on malaria in Kokang. https://blogs.biomedcentral.com/on-health/2016/04/25/malaria-control-among-neglected-populations-along-china-myanmar-border/ http://idpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40249-016-0127-8 Jamie

There is a brand new fascinating series of articles on malaria by Leslie Roberts of Science magazine in what some call the Mekong subregion. Including Myanmar. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/drug-resistance-triggers-war-wipe-out-malaria-mekong-region Don’t miss the piece on Myaing Myaing Nyunt: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/student-activist-returns-home-fight-malaria?IntCmp=malaria-8 The big personalities and big egos of the foreign actors are not news. But it is sad to see […]

There weren’t many highlights at the UN General Assembly Session on Drugs 2016. Here is one. It was called Science Addressing Drugs and HIV: State of the Art. And was organized by the Governments of Romania, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, the United Nations office on Drugs and Crime, UNAIDS and the World Health Organization. […]

It would be good to have a well-researched mass media article on abortion in Myanmar. No bridge figures needed. Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ Burma’s deadly abortion taboo Kimberley Phillips DVB 30 March 2016 “One of my friends is five weeks pregnant. She is uneducated and poor. Her boyfriend ran away when she told him that she was […]

AIDS Data Hub has just posted a 65 piece slide set on HIV in Myanmar. Download and enjoy. http://www.aidsdatahub.org/sites/default/files/Myanmar-April-2016-slides.pptx Jamie

It is interesting that the health reform plan states that diabetes and hypertension are ‘particularly prevalent’. Page 1 paragraph 2. https://www.dropbox.com/s/axkgas6cbdqu16p/Programme%20of%20Health%20Reforms%20-%20version%201_0%20-%202016%2003%2029%20-%20myanmar%20uhc%20plan.pdf?dl=0 Diabetes is found in 5.9% of male adults and 7.2% of female adults with an overall average of 6.6% in Myanmar. This is lower than the global and Asia average of 8.5%. The prevalence […]

DKT Myanmar has just published a newsletter. Check it out. https://www.dropbox.com/s/e4cmmukcd5lda0y/2016.03_Newsletter_DKT%20Myanmar.pdf?dl=0 Jamie

Here is a planning document for Universal Health Coverage in Myanmar. It is vital to understand how challenging it is going to be to implement. Fourteen years and counting. https://www.dropbox.com/s/axkgas6cbdqu16p/Programme%20of%20Health%20Reforms%20-%20version%201_0%20-%202016%2003%2029%20-%20myanmar%20uhc%20plan.pdf?dl=0 Jamie

Hat tip to a reader for bringing this to my attention. Can USAID and PEPFAR now pay for needles and syringes? Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ O’Neill Institute Blog has posted a new item, ‘HHS guidance on syringe service programs provides substantive support for HCV and HIV infection reduction efforts among injection drug users.’ On March 29, 2016, […]