I’m going to be hard on Than Sein and the People’s Health Foundation in this posting. It is the recipient of a grant from the NCD Alliance to *lead* a civil society response to NCDs in Myanmar. There is nothing wrong with civil society advocating for smoke free spaces. Governments can declare spaces smoke free […]

Last week I commented that a drug law was developed before a drug policy which seemed to me to be in the wrong order. http://hivinfo4mm.org/new-drug-law-and-new-drug-policy/ An anonymous comment from a reader: “Only in Myanmar, do you can see such an odd order. There are other examples of it too. Because of political, historical and structural […]

Decriminalisation of drug use is the best way forward. If decriminalisation does not proceed, the new law should be clear that treatment of drug use disorder should be voluntary. I see that new national drug policy is being developed. Isn’t the usual order to develop a policy and then a law? Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ The push […]

I’d like to draw your attention to a string of tweets by Karen Cavanaugh on the first activities of the new National Health plan. @cavanaughki If you weren’t at the presentation, take a look. We will all have failed if we don’t show solidarity for the cause of implementing the National Health Plan. Is there […]

Take a look at this. Budget transparency by WHO. Well done. http://open.who.int/2016-17/country/MMR You can look at any country on the site. Jamie

Blaming migrant workers for dengue does not help. Concrete action is needed to decrease dengue. Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ Spike in Yangon dengue cases expected Myint Kay Thi Myanmar Times Friday, 02 June 2017 Experts say that the number of dengue fever cases is likely to be high this year. Particularly susceptible to the disease is the […]

Here is a welcome change from the usual approach to drug use disorder and a very welcome change from the usual reporting on it. Kean uses the new term drug use disorder. Right. Acceptance of this nonstigmatising name for the problem is slow in coming. But it must come. Peer support is an important element […]

I think this slick Global Fund video made in collaboration with PSI is deceptive. https://www.theglobalfund.org/en/blog/2017-06-01-to-cure-malaria-look-for-the-lotus/ There are problems for malaria control with fake (counterfeit) drugs, sub-standard drugs, and artemisinin monotherapy in Myanmar. Conflating these three kinds of problems leads to the overstatement that fake or counterfeit drugs help artemisinin resistance. The text in the video […]

Go to this link in the Economist http://www.economist.com/blogs/graphicdetail/2017/05/daily-chart-22?fsrc=scn%2Ftw%2Fte%2Fbl%2Fed%2F&%3Ffsrc%3Dscn%2F=tw%2Fdc See Myanmar on the map? Tobacco smoking is the number one risk factor for suffering in the country. Only 23 other countries share this honour. Jamie ++++++++++++++++++ Where smoking is the leading cause of death and ill health The Economist May 31st 2017 TODAY is World No […]