The Australian Broadcasting Corporation programme says the need is too great to ignore.

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Burma agrees to humanitarian project guidelines
Karen Percy
Radio Australia AM
2 November 2006 

TONY EASTLEY: International aid agencies are hoping for a new era of cooperation with Burma's military leaders. The generals have agreed to guidelines for a new humanitarian project aimed at addressing the chronic problems of tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS in the isolated country.

Australia has joined the $130 million United Nations-backed fund, which is expected to start up next year. Previously such programs have all been plagued with the accusations of corruption and interference by the military.

The ABC was recently allowed a rare visit into Burma. South East Asia Correspondent Karen Percy filed this report.

(Sounds of birds)

KAREN PERCY: At a monastery in the Burmese capital Rangoon a group of young monks is doing a jigsaw puzzle. As they fit the pieces together there is the usual boyish reaction when they see that it shows a man and a woman in an intimate embrace.

(Burmese monks talking and laughing)

It's part of an education program promoting safe sex and warning against the use of intravenous drugs. Ordinarily monks wouldn't be in need of such information, given their vow of poverty and chastity. But the reality for these boys is very different.

Joanna Hayter is a Burma-based AIDS educator with the Australian disease research agency, the Burnet Institute.

JOANNA HAYTER: The novices are essentially students. Their families have enrolled them into a monastic education system believing that education is really, really important. They don't pay for the monastic education, so that makes a difference to predominantly very poor families.

So, hundreds and hundreds of these guys are in schools around the country, based mostly on an education. But it's a wonderful opportunity to talk to them about sex and HIV and reproductive health and so on, because most of them won't grow up to be monks. Most of them will go back into a mainstream society and get up to all the things that young boys get up to (laughs).

KAREN PERCY: 360,000 people are believed to have HIV/AIDS in Burma. That's about 1.3 per cent of the adult population. Deepening poverty has made for a more transient population as people travel further afield to find work. And long spells away from home have led to a rise in casual sex and drug use.

Brian Williams is from UNAIDS in Burma.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Responding to HIV is a challenge because it requires addressing cultural issues, which many societies around the world have a hard time addressing in a more public forum.

There are issues around sexual behaviour, there's issues around women's empowerment, women's standing in society, issues around vulnerable populations, which are often highly stigmatised in a society. And Myanmar is no exception.

KAREN PERCY: Another challenge is the military regime itself, which in the past has taken some project money for itself, and put restrictions on aid activities.

The United Nations is demanding more stringent financial controls on the Three Diseases Fund for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The regime also stands accused of adding to the problem by neglecting health expenditure, especially at a time when oil and gas revenues have boosted its finances.

Brian Williams again.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Certainly here in Myanmar there are many things that the Government could do with their own resources, from drug procurement and medical supplies, more doctors, more staff. So, there's lots that they could do, and we advocate for that.

KAREN PERCY: Aid organisations are also confronting problems because of personnel changes within the Burmese Government, says the UN's chief in the country, Charles Petrie.

CHARLES PETRIE: We've lost contact with the senior leadership and as a result our ability to argue our point with the regime is consequently limited.

KAREN PERCY: But even with these difficulties the people on the ground believe the need is too great to ignore.

This is Karen Percy reporting for AM.

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