Though the [him] moderator is pleased that the KNO is taking interest in issues surrounding HIV, this article raises more questions than it answers.

There is no analysis of why the 360 people in prison in Myitkyina are HIV positive. Is it because the authorities are suppressing drug use so people who are known to share end up in jail or is infection taking place in jail through unprotected sex and nonsterile injecting equipment. Who is responsible for determining the 90% figure? Have there really been a lakh of people who died due to HIV in one city?

[him] moderator

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Drug abuse and HIV/AIDS rampant in Kachin State
Aye Lae
Irrawaddy
5 February 2008

The prevalence of HIV in Burma's Kachin State has reached such proportions that 90 percent of the 400 prisoners held in jail in Myitkyina, the capital, are HIV positive, according to the Thailand-based Kachin National Organization (KNO).

An increasing number of the city's young people also risk contracting HIV/AIDS because of their reliance on drugs, said KNO Joint Secretary Uma Tu in an interview with The Irrawaddy.

He said KNO research showed that 100,000 young Myitkyina people between the ages of 10 and 40 had died from HIV/AIDS in the past 10 years. Eight out of 10 young people were using drugs, he said.

Myitkyina residents report finding used hypodermic needles on the premises of Myitkyina University. "Even teenage girls are now using drugs," said one.

The risk of contracting HIV/AIDS in Myitkyina prison was heightened by the practice of sharing hypodermic needles, said Tate Naging, of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

Tate Naging, a former political prisoner, said: "Myitkyina prison is careless about basic health care. It is a place where HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria are prevalent."

The high rate of drug-users among the young people of Kachin State is ascribed by many to the hopelessness they feel in their lives. Corrupt officials profit from their addiction, say observers.

"Kachin communities must take this issue seriously," said Uma Tu. "Otherwise we cannot hope for a healthy and strong new generation."

The majority of the state's 1.2 million inhabitants are ethnic Kachin, also known as Jinghpaw, Rawang, Lisu, Zaiwa, Lawngwaw, Lachyit. The state is also officially home to other ethnic groups, such as Burman and Shan.