Cluelessness is the term ...
This is strange. UNHCR goes on record to say that all people in the camps who need antiretroviral therapy get their drugs but then demands that Thailand pay for them. We know how little Taksin’s promises are worth.
After you have finished this bizarre article go on to read the opinion of one anonymous [him] reader on the situation.
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Thailand: Refugees to get better access to HIV/AIDS drugs
Thailand is considering making life-saving anti-retroviral (ARV) drugs available to refugees from Myanmar living with HIV/AIDS in camps along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Thaksin Shinawatra, the Thai prime minister, promised to look into the plight of refugees living with HIV/AIDS after an appeal from Antonio Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In an hour-long meeting with the premier last week, Guterres urged Thailand to include the refugees in its national programme to provide ARVs and initiatives for the prevention, care and treatment of HIV/AIDS.
Guterres said that if refugees living with HIV/AIDS could be assured access to ARVs, it would bring "a major improvement in conditions" in the camps.
An estimated 140,000 refugees from Myanmar - mainly ethnic minority Karen and Karennis - have spent nearly a decade in nine camps along the Thai-Myanmar border after fleeing fighting between Myanmar's armed forces and armed ethnic militias.
HIV/AIDS prevalence rates among Mynamar refugees in the Thai camps are low. A recent survey of pregnant women in two of the camps - which have a combined population of 63,000 people - found HIV/AIDS prevalence rates of less than 0.3 percent among pregnant women; a far lower incidence of the virus than in pregnant women in nearby parts of Thailand.
Dr Ann Burton, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ (UNHCR) senior regional HIV/AIDS coordinator in Asia, said the antenatal data from the two camps was "indicative" of a relatively low HIV/AIDS prevalence rate among Myanmar refugees living in the camps.
Thailand, with an estimated 600,000 of its own citizens living with HIV/Aids, has won international praise for its commitment to make ARVs available to all who need them.
More than 80,000 people receive the drugs, mainly cheap generic copies produced by the state-owned Government Pharmaceutical Organisation, through Thailand's national health care scheme. Within two years, an estimated 150,000 Thais will be receiving the medication.
However, refugees are not entitled to participate in the scheme or other state health systems. They rely on NGOs to provide basic health services.
Sixty-three refugees are receiving HIV/AIDS drugs but UNHCR has estimated that between 100 and 175 refugees who are yet to be diagnosed may need them.
"There is nobody [in the camps] who needs anti-retrovirals that doesn't have access to them," said Burton. “Some of them have formal ARV programmes established in the actual camps, while some would be referred to a Thai facility, and an NGO would have to pay for that."
But UNHCR believed the refugees should be integrated into Thailand's ARV scheme and HIV/AIDS programmes, rather than relying on the uncertain funding of NGOs to provide care.
"We want to see comprehensive HIV services available for refugees, which include prevention, care, treatment and support," Burton said. "We would like to see refugees, as with other marginalised groups, integrated into the national HIV programmes."
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6TBKF8?OpenDocument
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It never ceases to amaze me that those responsible for making major decisions in this matter have at best a superficial understanding of the situation. (Cluelessness is the term that more often comes to mind) A few glaring items:
1. There are maybe 150,000 official refugees, mostly from Karen State. This is a small proportion of the total numbers of migrants from Burma resident in Thailand (estimated >2 million) and they are coming from a predominantly low prevalence HIV area. It makes me wonder what is driving the decision to investigate HIV in the camps; I suspect it is not scientific evidence. In contrast, over 200,000 Shan migrants are thought to live in Chiang Mai; the HIV epidemic in this population has been shown to be high. Here, many work in exploitative conditions, including the sex industry; they are bereft of significant support because they are not considered refugees. The resources could be far better spent supporting HIV programs in migrants in Thailand outside the camps.
2. Pumping investment into Burma will not solve the problem of refugees. To begin with, the categories of migrants are completely artificial; for example, more than half of the Shan migrant construction workers surveyed in Chiang Mai cite persecution as their primary reason for coming to Thailand. Throwing money into Burma without addressing the SPDC's abysmal human rights record will only serve to prop up this reprehensible regime, which will continue to drive migrants across international boundaries. This investment argument is one that has been advanced by Thailand's business elites, arguing for engagement, the reason Burma was admitted to ASEAN. Ten years later, they are an embarassment: there are more refugees and displaced persons than ever before, the government has moved its capital for no apparent rational reason, and they have become even more insular and xenophobic, imposing further limits on even international humanitarian aid, which is sorely needed by the peoples of Burma. The priorities of the generals are quite clear and it is NOT the welfare of their peoples. Money alone won't change that.
3. The presence of migrants from Burma in Thailand is cited as beneficial for them and to Thailand, according to a "new vision." Thailand's vision towards migrants has been shortsighted for far too long, about time that the contributions of migrants to this country's economy was recognized. Let's hope this "new vision" contributes to substantial improvements in services available to migrants and is not another catchy Thaksin promise that is, at best, empty. Two years ago, at the International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, he promised to the world that Thailand would consider injection drug users as patients needing treatment, he would introduce harm reduction and substitution therapy, he would ensure universal access to ARVs for all who need it. This has not transpired; indeed, Burma's programs for HIV prevention in injection drug users remains more enlightened than Thailand's.
