Bravo to this journalist who has gone beyond the ‘bad driver’ paradigm for increasing road deaths to look at structural issues like cars and roads. The issue of road safety is ready for responsible journalism. Some clear infographics would be helpful. Road injury and road death is a health problem that will not go away […]

Is there a “road crash monitoring period” over Thingyan in Myanmar? It would be good to see year to year changes to see if injuries and deaths are increasing or decreasing. Alcohol, seat belt, and helmet checks where motorcycles are allowed are good ideas. At least this year we don’t have to worry that contraceptives […]

I am not sure when Myanmar’s golden days were. But health and education are investments in the future of the country. Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ Suu Kyi unveils health policy Nay Rai, Zeya Tun Eleven Sat, 04/01/2017 – 15:36 The development of a country depends on the health and education, State Councillor Aung San Suu Kyi said […]

For a long time I’ve marvelled at a mishmash of metrics in the world of HIV and AIDS. Incidence, prevalence, case detections, and deaths. Health professionals who work in the field of HIV are confused by them. So it is no wonder that communities often cannot use these metrics to know what is going on […]

There is a new report on HIV, NCDs, and poverty published by UNDP. It deserves a close reading. http://www.mm.undp.org/content/myanmar/en/home/library/democratic_governance/The_Socio_Economic_Impact_of_People_Living_with_HIV_at_the_Household_Level_in_Myanmar.html The UNDP report says reduction of new HIV infections in Myanmar is due to prevention but also partly due to treatment. Figure 7 proves the opposite. The fall in incidence largely occurred *before* treatment reached a […]

Here is a fluff article containing lots of quotes to end the work week. Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ State Counsellor to medical staff: be competent, ethical Pyae Thet Phyo Myanmar Times Tuesday, 04 April 2017 State Counsellor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi says that Myanmar needs doctors and medical staff who are not only professionally competent but […]

The NCD Alliance has a new partner in Myanmar. The People’s Health Alliance: https://ncdalliance.org/node/8938 It is a local NGO and not a network. Their Facebook page illustrates their gender and age diversity: https://www.facebook.com/pg/myanmarhealthfoundation/about/ I look forward to hearing their approach to networking and partnership soon. Jamie

Objective written public analysis of malaria and malaria control in Myanmar is rare. Here is an excellent blog post based on the new DHS data. Myanmar – update on malaria indicators Read! On another note, I was not pleased by the characterisation of malaria patients by a person quoted in this article https://t.co/ZecJvHjEBQ. “The last […]

The draft drug law has been disseminated. In the Burmese language. Here is a chance to discuss it. Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ On behalf of DPAG, I have the great pleasure to invite you to attend the public event titled “Advancing drug policy reform in Myanmar” on the 8th of April, 2017 in Yangon. The event is […]

This is bad news. The maternal mortality ratio in Myanmar is over ten times what it is in Thailand. As they say on Twitter, this is unacceptable. The new DHS report indicates that over half of births in Myanmar are already attended by a trained provider. Will increasing the number of trained midwives alone bring […]