The [him] moderator has searched his favourite HIV websites to look for case studies of people dying from shock because their community worker has gone into hiding. He found none. One hopes that the HIV/AIDS welfare group can build capacity so that it is not so dependent on the work of one person. And that Phyu Phyu Tin remains safe.

[him] moderator

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Patients die out of concern
Shah Paung
Irrawaddy
January 15 2008

Three persons living with HIV/AIDS under the care of a social welfare group in Rangoon have died due to the psychological shock of losing their mentor, according to a senior member of the group.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Sunday, Yazar, a youth member of the National League for Democracy who also works for the HIV/AIDS welfare group, said that the three patients died recently not because of a lack of medicine, but because they were shocked by the rumor that Phyu Phyu Thin, a well-know HIV/AIDS activist and leading figure in the NLD-affiliated welfare group, had been arrested by Burmese authorities.

Phyu Phyu Thin went into hiding last August as security forces stepped up a hunt for her because of her leading role at the beginning of the protests against the hike in fuel prices.

According to Yazar, when the three patients were transferred to hospital the only thing they were heard saying was: "Where is sayarma? Where is sayarma?" a word meaning "teacher," referring to Phyu Phyu Thin.

Yazar, 30, said the hunt for Phyu Phyu Thin affected the minds of the three patients. Most of the people who come to receive medical treatment with the group do so out of a sense of attachment to Phyu Phyu Thin, he said.

"What the patients really need is Phyu Phyu Thin, not medicine," said Yazar. "Some patients call her 'mother.'"

Lay Pyay, who is living with the HIV/AIDS virus and receiving medical treatment from the group, said that they are all dejected and genuinely worried for Phyu Phyu Thin's security.

"When Ma Phyu is here it's like we don't need to worry about anything," Lay Pyay said. "Even though the Ma Phyu group is now taking care of us, it
would be better if Ma Phyu herself were with us."

Lay Pyay was diagnosed with the HIV/AIDS virus in 2006, but he only began receiving treatment about mid-2007 when he was introduced to Phyu Phyu
Thin's group.

Yazar said that, without Phyu Phyu Thin and since the September crackdown, their work had become increasingly difficult because many of the volunteers had to go into hiding while others had been arrested and detained.

"It's like I am walking on a tightrope without her," he said. "I am concerned for her and worry that I cannot maintain the work that she initiated, especially acquiring medicines for patients."

Before September, the group was able to supply people with enough antiretroviral drugs for one month and let them go back to live in their hometowns. Now it only has enough drugs to supply each patient for 15 days. It costs more than 35,000 kyat (US $28) for one month's supply of ARV drugs, he said.

Since early January, 2007, hospitals and clinics in Rangoon treating people living with HIV/AIDS have stopped providing ARV drugs to new patients due to limited budgets. The only ARV drugs available in Rangoon are being supplied by the Wai Bar Gi (Rangoon Infectious Diseases Hospital) and the AZG clinic, which is funded by the Dutch branch of Me'decins sans Frontie`res.

Currently the NLD-affiliated welfare group is taking care of up to 600 people living with HIV/AIDS, including some 200 from other townships, Yazar said. About 30 of the patients are living in two safe houses in Rangoon.

The group now has about five volunteers working in Rangoon, but in other townships they just run it "patient with patient," Yazar said. They also offer counseling to people living with HIV/AIDS and their families. The group's network covers Magwe, Irrawaddy, Mandalay, Sagaing and Tenasserim
divisions, as well as Shan and Arakan states.

"We can treat their physical needs, but we can't take care of their psychological needs," Yazar said of the patients. "They depend on Phyu Phyu Tin both physically and morally."

According to a World Health Organization report in November 2007, there are more than 339,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Burma---one of the
worst epidemics in Asia.