Thanks to Teis Christensen for responding below to [him] 943.
It is not the practice of the [him] moderator to check the facts of articles in the mainstream press. That is the job of journalists and fact checkers. Amplifying and questioning civil society views on HIV is, however, part of the mission of HIV Information for Myanmar and will continue. If the media article are incorrect then the moderator recommends that IOM executives get in touch with the IOM staff who leaked the figures and the Independent Mon News Agency staff who wrote the media report.
The moderator stands by his original correct statement that "an increase in the death rate is most likely due to the quality of care". He is delighted to hear that the death rate has decreased. The question: "Are the IOM and IMNA getting enough technical assistance?" still stands.
More comments are welcome.
[him] moderator
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Response by Teis Christensen to [him] 943 at http://www.hivinfo4mm.org/blog/_archives/2009/7/2/4242088.html#comments
IOM is not sure if or how IMNA verified any of the information that appeared in their recent article, nor why [HIM] felt it appropriate to comment on the quality of care or technical assistance needs of an organisation based on unverified reports, however we would like to point out that IOM did not "report" any such figures and that the information presented in the article is factually and contextually incorrect. IOM will be asking IMNA for a retraction and correction of the article.
IOM in fact reported 13 HIV-related deaths in June, which was an increase from deaths reported in the previous 2 months, HOWEVER, the average number of HIV-related deaths per month in 2009 is 9.This clearly does not indicate a significant deviation from expected deaths.
As with many HIV services provided in Myanmar, a significant proportion of patients only present at an advanced stage of disease which accounts for a high number of deaths each month. This is particularly so in IOMs work with migrants and mobility impacted communities who often register after return to their home communities.
Contrary to the [HIM] moderator's unfounded and unhelpful comments that "an increase in the death rate is most likely due to the quality of care", the average death rate amongst PLHIV registered with IOM has actually decreased since 2007.
IOM began supplying ART to patients in 2008 and currently does so to 104 patients. This number has NOT doubled in April and June as reported in the article. During this entire period (2008-2009), only 11 IOM-patients on ART have died, including just 2 patients in 2009.
Overall, IOM's programme has registered and assisted over 800 PLHIV in its operational time, of which almost 200 have died. This is the harsh and sad reality, that scores of HIV positive persons in Myanmar continue to die despite nutritional support, treatment for opportunistic infections and comprehensive care and support programmes. Only with adequate ART access and provision, encouragement of VCCT, and targeted evidence based prevention programmes can we begin to stem the tide of HIV related deaths. IOM is unfortunately the only organization providing ARV outside of Mawlamyine in Mon state, but as in the case of all other organizations operating in Myanmar, is limited by funding made available by donors.
It is regretful that the information quoted by the Mon News Agency is incorrect, and your own very condescending comments do not do honor to the amazing contributions in the fight against HIV/AIDS by all the hard-working IOM staff in Mon State. IOM would like to propose that you check with the organization in question before you uncritically bring news from other sources, and at least give them the opportunity to react before drawing your own conclusions and sharing them with the whole world. We would request that you forward this response to the HIM mailing list ASAP.
