U Nyi Nyi illustrates an important point that the market for ineffective treatments decreases as more people begin effective antiretroviral therapy.
[him] moderator
++++++++++++++++++++
No scientific evidence to support traditional HIV ‘cures’, say NGOs
Khin Myat
Myanmar Times
October 11 - 17, 2010
NON-GOVERNMENT organis-ations fighting HIV/AIDS have criticised as “misleading” advertisements that suggest traditional herbal remedies can strengthen sufferers’ immune systems.
Many HIV/AIDS patients in Myanmar resort to herbal medicines in the belief that they will either cure the disease, for which no known cure exists, or strengthen their impaired immune systems and their resistance to infections. The most popular herbal remedies are known as bizat and morinda, also known as ye yo.
Dr Sid Naing, country director of Marie Stopes International (Myanmar), said in the absence of any research proving their medical effectiveness, spending on such products was most likely a waste of money.
“There are no proper facilities here to research the effectiveness of those herbal [medicines] against HIV. You have to look at not just the immediate results, but also the long-term consequences,”
Patients should save their money for anti retroviral treatment (ART), he advised, adding: “The media can play an important role in raising awareness that HIV patients should not pursue this kind of treatment.”
Dr Khin Zarli Aye, UNAIDS monitoring and evaluation officer, advised patients to use their common sense. “Many scientists around the world have been researching drugs to cure HIV/AIDS. If traditional or Chinese medicines worked against HIV, they would know. This is just a businessmen’s trick,” she said.
She said that according to UNAIDS data, 237,684 people in Myanmar were living with HIV/AIDS in 2009, with 17,566 estimated AIDS deaths and 17,101 new infections that year.
Ma Khaing from local non-government organisation Myanmar National Network, which works with people infected with HIV, said newspapers and magazines should not accept controversial advertisements claiming that a product can strengthen an immune system attacked by the HIV virus.
“HIV patients might believe those advertisements because they are in shock at their diagnosis. Some patients will believe anything they are told [when they are in] that situation.”
U Win Khin, 45, an HIV patient at the Phoenix Association, which cares for HIV-positive patients, said he contracted HIV in 2003.
“I lived in Zalun township in Hinthada district. As I lived outside Yangon, there was a lack of information available about HIV. That’s why I took bizat, morinda and other herbal medicines that people told me were good for [treating] HIV. But I just continued losing weight.”
HIV patient U Nyi Nyi, 40, who was infected 10 years ago, said he had spent K2 million, or about US$2000, attempting to fight the disease with traditional medicines.
“I had a blood test in 2000. The result was positive. When I knew, I was shocked because there is no cure for HIV disease and I just kept thinking I was going to die soon.
“If I heard from my friends that a clinic could cure HIV, I went there. If I didn’t get better, I’d try another treatment,” he said.
Later he attended the Thazin Clinic, operated by Médecins Sans Frontières (Holland), which supplies ART to HIV patients.
http://www.mmtimes.com/2010/news/544/54422news.html
