I want to hear more about the coup. Jamie
Gender and TB
TB prevalence surveys show there are two or three men with tuberculosis for every woman with tuberculosis in Myanmar. Through the Stop TB Partnership-funded TB REACH Wave 7 (2019-2021) with a focus on the empowerment of women and girls, PATH has supported the Myanmar Medical Association and the Gender Equality Network to undertake a participatory […]
Feasible?
To meet its first short term goal Myanmar must give Civid19 vaccine to an average of seventy-five thousand people a day. Does anyone think this is feasible? https://www.irrawaddy.com/specials/myanmar-covid-19/myanmar-starts-vaccinating-medics-nationwide-covid-19.html Jamie
USAID support
There is USAID support for a new tuberculosis initiative in Myanmar. https://mm.usembassy.gov/usaid-launches-new-tuberculosis-project-in-yangon-region/ https://mm.usembassy.gov/remarks-as-prepared-for-usaid-mission-director-aler-grubbs-in-myanmar-for-the-virtual-launch-of-the-local-action-toward-tuberculosis-free-myanmar-act/ Jamie
Whose side is it on?
The Myanmar Times published two articles on Covid19 vaccine ‘side-effects’ and almost nothing about the benefits of vaccination. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/health-official-quells-fear-vaccine-side-effects.html https://www.mmtimes.com/news/mandalay-braces-covid-19-vaccination.html Whose side is it on? Jamie
Spox
I’m not surprised that Dr Khin Khin Gyi continues to speak unintelligible half truths about Covid19 but it does surprise me that the media continue to amplify her. I guess few staff at the Myanmar Ministry of Health & Sports are authorised to speak with journalists. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/40pc-myanmars-population-be-vaccinated-against-covid-19-2021.html Jamie
Some vaccine has arrived
Irrawaddy reports that health are workers are first in line. Fine. How many health care workers are there, including cleaners, receptionists, nurse-midwives, and others who speak face to face with patients? “Health-care workers, including volunteers, who are on the COVID-19 frontline, government staff and members of parliament are the first priority. Myanmar has more than […]
Reporting on the epidemic in Myanmar
What happened to reporting figures on the Covid19 epidemic in Myanmar? https://twitter.com/nyanlynn_razi/status/1351131273566294018?s=20 Now that the vaccine has arrived, is there a published plan for distribution? Jamie
Vaccine distribution plan
So the Myanmar Human Rights Commission has called for a Covid19 vaccine distribution plan. Government officials are right after health workers but before people who clean hospitals. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/human-rights-commission-calls-vaccination-priority-plan.html Now would be a good time for the Ministry of Health and Sports to publicly publish their plan. Jamie
Legal and policy trends
UNAIDS has published an analysis of legal and policy trends on HIV in Asia. *Seven years* of advocacy for an HIV law are summarised here: “In Myanmar, consultations were held concerning the development of a human rightsbased national HIV law from 2014 to 2017, and a bill was drafted as a basis for consultations. In […]
New drug use framework
I am not concerned about drug abuse as I don’t know what it means. Substance use disorders, on the other hand, are important. https://www.mmtimes.com/news/drug-abuse-major-concern-myanmar-govt.html What do you think of the new Myanmar National Strategic Framework on Health and Drugs? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NhygL2N7vVLD5gm35zUWDC671EuZMWdN/view?usp=sharing Jamie
Samantha Power and USAID
Genocide expert Samantha Power has been appointed the head of USAID. Remember what she wrote about Suu Kyi in ‘The Education of an Idealist’? “What I found most chilling was the fact that she was a bad listener – an alarming quality in a leader. And she demonstrated scant empathy for the plight of a […]

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