Burma Human Rights Yearbook 2006
Human Rights Documentation Unit
of the
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma

HIV/AIDS
Without a doubt, Burma is experiencing one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics in Asia.106
Despite this, the country’s health expenditure is among the lowest in the world. The annual
budget for the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS is less than US$22,000 for the entire
population. In addition, most of the country lacks basic laboratory facilities, including the
ability to carry out a CD4 blood test, which is the minimum standard for clinical monitoring
of AIDS.107 A recent study found that the national reporting system for HIV/AIDS was “too
limited in scale and scope to accurately capture HIV/AIDS in this large and diverse
country”.108
Dr Kyaw Myint, the SPDC Minister of Health, informed a press conference in Naypyidaw in
November 2006, that Burma was winning the fight against HIV/AIDS, basing his statement
on statistics which allegedly showed a drop in the infection rate from 1.5 to 1.3 percent. He
also denied the suggestion that Burma’s HIV/AIDS epidemic constituted a threat to
international peace and security. In contrast, at a meeting in Naypyidaw in November, Prime
Minister General Soe Win admitted to his Thai counterpart, Surayud Chulanont, that the
disease was widespread and that Burma lacked the expertise to solve the problem.109
The UN’s HIV/AIDS survey for 2006 notes that, while Burma is making some progress, the
infection rate of 1.3 percent quoted by Dr Kyaw Myint applies only to those over 24 years of
age. Meanwhile, the prevalence rate for those aged 15 to 24 is much higher at 2.2 percent.110
Many experts agree that the official figures relating to HIV/AIDS in Burma are not reliable
owing to the lack of monitoring equipment, a restricted budget and the SPDC’s obsession
with secrecy over healthcare data. Officials in the Chinese Health Ministry have been quoted
to state that they believe the infection rate could be four of five times higher than official
SPDC figures.111
In November 2006, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton announced
his intention to place Burma on the UN Security Council (UNSC) agenda. One of the main
issues cited was the HIV/AIDS situation and the threat of transmission to neighbouring
countries. SPDC Secretary-1, Lieutenant General Thein Sein of the SPDC denied that
HIV/AIDS rates were on the rise and dismissed reports on the HIV/AIDS situation as
opposition propaganda designed to destabilise the country.112 However, in 2005, the Council
on Foreign Relations (CFR), a New York based think tank, published a study which claimed
that Burma was the main source of all strains of HIV/AIDS for a range of countries,
stretching from Kazakhstan in the west to Vietnam in the east.113 The SPDC places the
number of people living with HIV at 330,000 but aid workers say the actual figure could well
be double this.114 With an average of 97,000 new cases and 12,000 deaths reported every
year,115 Burma has been reported as having the highest infection rate in Southeast Asia.116
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Despite all of this, experts say, the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Burma is the least studied in the
world.
Burma is also the world’s second-largest producer of heroin after Afghanistan. As in many
other countries, the first outbreaks of AIDS were discovered among heroin addicts in the late
1980s. The infection rate among drug users has risen unchecked and a recent survey in Shan
State found that 96 percent of injection drug users were HIV positive. However, a lack of
adequate healthcare and a refusal on the SPDC’s part to even acknowledge the existence of a
problem meant that the disease quickly spread from drug users and sex workers into the
general population. In 2000, the WHO, estimated that 48,000 people had died from AIDS in
Burma during the previous year. Meanwhile, the SPDC had reported only 850 deaths. By
2001 the epidemic had become so serious that the SPDC was forced to acknowledge it
publicly. Another facet of the problem is the allegation of official collusion in the drug trade
and the apparent link between high infection rates and a ready supply of heroin. Involvement
in the drug trade may explain the SPDC’s reluctance to tackle such a closely related disease.
The Burnet Institute, a virology and communicable disease research centre in Australia,
estimates that 150,000-250,000 people in Burma regularly inject drugs. Even official data
from the Myanmar National AIDS Program puts the proportion of injection drug users
infected with HIV at 43 percent, while the SPDC Department of Health has recorded rates of
up to 60 percent in border towns of Shan State on the Chinese and Thai borders. Dr Voravit
Suwanvanichkij, an epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health in Chiang Mai, has said that they have molecular data linking HIV/AIDS strains
among injection drug users in Yunnan, China, to strains circulating in Burma.117
In August 2006, Bo Kyi, joint secretary of the exiled Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners (AAPP) claimed the SPDC has no desire to help solve the HIV/AIDS problem and
instead tries to isolate victims and encourages discrimination.118 Though, allegations of this
sort can easily be denied. In January 2006, the SPDC’s Department of Public Health
announced plans to add an HIV/AIDS prevention and education program to the national
school syllabus for students aged 7-16.119 In addition, in October 2006, the SPDC gave
permission for the release of a health education film entitled Hmyaw Lint Chin Myar Swar
(‘Much Hope’). Sponsored by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the film
featured prominent national celebrities and aimed to debunk many of the myths that surround
AIDS in Burma, including how the disease is transmitted.120 Nonetheless, circumstantial
evidence would seem to support Bo Kyi’s position. It was reported in July 2006 that a couple
from Mrauk U in Arakan State had recently died from complications arising from AIDS at
home after the hospital in Sittwe refused to treat them, claiming they did not have any
appropriate medicine. One townsperson from Sittwe claimed that AIDS patients are
regularly refused admittance to hospital and that the hospitals do not want to treat them.
Many AIDS sufferers in Arakan State are reportedly too afraid to seek treatment in hospitals
for fears that they will somehow be killed by the authorities after being granted admission.121
It is all too easy for rumours to take hold as public awareness and understanding of AIDS is
extremely low. A doctor from Rangoon commented that the SPDC’s public awareness
campaigns to date have been “ridiculously inadequate”. The first campaign, which lasted
five to six years, consisted of pamphlets printed in English. In a country struggling with high
rates of illiteracy, the fact that the only information available on HIV/AIDS was printed in a
foreign language that very few people understand would certainly seem to indicate a lack of
political will to genuinely engage with the problem. Another doctor who worked for the
military explained how soldiers were routinely tested for HIV and dismissed from the army if
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they tested positive. He was continually shocked by the soldiers’ reactions. Most thought a
positive result was a good thing as it meant they could leave the army and go home to lead a
normal life. They had no idea it was a death sentence and he was under orders not to tell
them otherwise.122
There have also b

een calls for improvement in the media handling of HIV/AIDS in Burma.
Dr Myat Htoo Razak, a physician and HIV/AIDS researcher from Burma spoke at a gathering
of journalists and health workers in Thailand in November 2006. He said the media should
be more thorough, running stories which educate and inform but which are also capable of
attracting public attention.123 During 2006, the Burmese media took to praising the benefits
of the flowering ‘Siam weed’ (Chromolaena odorata) which is now being touted as a cure for
HIV. The popularity of the weed is not surprising given that the 50,000 kyat a month for
anti-retroviral drugs is well beyond the reach of most AIDS patients. However, even
advocates of traditional medicine are concerned by the way the drug was being hyped,
particularly in the absence of any proper scientific research into its properties. Aung Naing, a
doctor of traditional herbal medicine, said that he was concerned that the seriousness of AIDS
may be diminished if people believe it can be cured by an easily available weed which grows
wild on Rangoon’s sidewalks.124
There has, however, been some progress in increasing public awareness and acceptability of
condom use. Over the past ten years, sales of condoms have increased from a meagre 2.6
million to 40 million annually.125 This surge in sales reflects the efforts of Population
Services International (PSI), a non-governmental organization (NGO) which works to
promote condom use and, in particular, support Aphaw (‘trusted companion’) condoms,
Burma’s top-selling brand of condom. The organization was originally criticised for its
involvement in Burma but country director, Guy Stallworthy, believes their success shows it
is possible for NGOs to help people in Burma without legitimising or supporting the SPDC.
PSI currently supplies 75 percent of all the condoms used in Burma. Western subsidies allow
them to be sold at one-third of their production cost which makes them affordable to the
majority of ordinary people and are not the preserve of the rich.126 The promotion of condom
use has been neither easy nor straightforward. The military previously considered condom
possession as evidence of prostitution and claimed that marketing the product would
encourage promiscuity. PSI therefore, had to come up with culturally specific marketing
strategies which would get people’s attention without offending the sensibilities of the SPDC.
The SPDC’s acknowledgement of an HIV/AIDS problem in 2001 triggered increased funding
and PSI were able to start advertising on billboards and in privately owned magazines. The
increased advertising and visibility has helped to reduce the stigma and condoms have
gradually become more widely available. However, there is still plenty of scope for
improvement. Despite dramatic increases, condom usage during 2006 was recorded at just
0.8 per capita per year, compared to 1.6 in Thailand and 2.1 in Cambodia.127
Despite these concessions, the SPDC still seems to encourage the stigmatisation of AIDS and
there have been numerous claims of harassment of both victims and those working to help
them. On 13 August 2006, the SPDC raided a Rangoon monastery and arrested 11 volunteers
who were there to help organise a traditional Buddhist ceremony for AIDS victims. The
ceremony had been initiated by 52 local AIDS patients and designed to be a healing event
and to honour the memory of those who had succumbed to the disease.128 The organisers
made every effort to follow the correct procedures. They wrote a letter of explanation to
local SPDC authorities and also met with Lieutenant Colonel Maung Maung Shein, chairman
of Rangoon’s Eastern District Peace and Development Council, to explain their intentions in
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person. In response, Maung Maung Shein threatened to close down the Tha Zin Clinic,
where the patients in question were being treated. Officials then later raided Meggin
monastery, which is in Thingangyun Township, and arrested those volunteers who were
staying overnight to assist with preparations.129 The 11 volunteers were members of the
youth wing of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and were ostensibly arrested for
not informing the authorities of their overnight stay.130 The volunteers were soon released
once news of their arrest started to spread. However, the local authorities had succeeded in
preventing the ceremony from taking place. Tragically, Than Lwin, one of the 52 patients,
died on the day the ceremony had been scheduled to take place.131 A former political
prisoner, Than Lwin contracted the disease while in prison and during his illness received
help from the NLD, who run a home for AIDS sufferers in southern Dagon Township of
Rangoon. His funeral had to be delayed because of harassment from the local authorities.
His family said they had been put under pressure to reject offers of assistance from the NLD
and to invite only monks from SPDC-appointed monasteries. Also, that the local authorities
had barred people from registering as night guests so that no one could assist the family with
the preparations for the memorial service.132 Barring people from registering as overnight
guests is a frequent occurrence. On 19 August 2006, Sein Than, chairman of Ward No. 18 in
Dagon Township of Rangoon Division, allegedly barred AIDS patients from registering as
guests in his ward on the basis that they would spread the disease. After his comments were
reported he made a statement explaining that his intention had not been to discriminate
against HIV/AIDS sufferers but to protect the reputation of the house owner in question.133
In May 2006, it was reported that local SPDC authorities had pressured a landlord into
evicting a number of HIV/AIDS patients from a house in Thaketa Township of Rangoon.
There were almost 40 patients in the house, who had come to Rangoon for a treatment
program jointly organised by the NLD and Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF). The patients had
been in Rangoon for four months and were scheduled to stay for another two. When
contacted for information, the police in Thaketa Township denied all knowledge of the
incident.134
HIV/AIDS patients from other regions of Burma who travel to Rangoon for treatment are
obliged to register as guests every month of their stay. In addition, the local authorities
regularly pressure house owners to refuse AIDS patients as guests. Fortunately, the NLD run
guesthouses for patients and are able to resist the pressure from the SPDC.135 On top of this,
though, there are reports of officials not only refusing permission for AIDS patients to stay in
a particular ward but also publicly humiliating them.136
Harassment also extends to those trying to help AIDS victims. Reverend Einthariya, a monk
from Mahasi Yeiktha Monastery in Yenanggyaung in Magwe Division was threatened with
arrest in August 2006 because of his work with AIDS victims. He was told on numerous
occasions that his “charitable actions [were] not in accordance with the codes of conduct of
a monk.” His reply was to vow to continue helping AIDS sufferers, and asked “Why is it not
in accordance with the conduct to save life? It infringes none of the 227 laws for the monks
in this matter”.137 Similarly, monks invited to take part in ceremonies are regularly pressured
and even threatened by the authorities. The NLD deemed that the harassment of AIDS
patients is a violation of Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and
resolved to report the violation to the UN Human Rights Council.138
In the meantime, the bleak situation facing AIDS victims in Burma has led some to make the
trip to India for treatment. In March 2006, 24-ye

ar-old Mary Lun was carried across the
border to a hospice in Churachandpur in northeast India. At the time she weighed only 24 kg
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(53 lb), was wracked with tuberculosis and her relatives had little hope of her leaving the
hospice alive. Five months later she was not only alive but healthy and able to walk out of
the hospice unaided. The hospice that treated her is run by an NGO called Shalom. Patients
in Burma need SPDC permission to travel across the border for treatment and have strict,
often unrealistic, time limits imposed upon their travel. A late return can result in
imprisonment or a hefty fine. Consequently, many make the trip illegally and register in
India with false addresses or settle there permanently.139 The tragedy of the HIV/AIDS
situation in Burma is highlighted by cases like Mary Lun’s who show how well patients can
respond once basic treatment is made available; treatment that is not only limited, but often
denied in Burma.