The journalist from Mizzima made a serious error in this article.
S/he writes: "Another telling example is, the number of condoms distributed has declined since a few years ago. Only 3 million condoms have been distributed in 2007, compared with 13 million in 2006, and about 3 million in 2008."
PSI alone distributed 30 million condoms out of the total of 44 million condoms distributed in Myanmar in 2006. There is no evidence that condom distribution is truly declining. Condom use is one of the reasons that the number of new infections in Myanmar is decreasing. http://www.hivinfo4mm.org/blog/_archives/2008/10/28/3950405.html
[him] moderator
******************************
Ed/Op Commentary Burma’s current situation fuels spread of HIV/AIDS
Burma’s current situation fuels spread of HIV/AIDS
Moe Thu
Mizzima
Thursday, 14 May 2009 16:22
Shortage of funds, public misconceptions about HIV-positive patients and lack of access to antiretroviral drugs by the poor continue to be among the challenges, which Burma has to deal with in its efforts to contain the disease. However, on the brighter side, community awareness and cooperation in the fight against AIDS has gradually escalated in the past few years.
The impoverished country is already facing funding difficulties that could reduce the effectiveness of current efforts to deal with the disease. Although, people have fresh skills and knowledge to prevent the disease, but they still need more funding.
According to the National AIDS Program (NAP) and UN estimates, about USD 50 million would be required a year to conduct prevention and treatment activities. However, only about half of the required amount has been available during the tenure from 2006 to 2008, from donors.
Another telling example is, the number of condoms distributed has declined since a few years ago. Only 3 million condoms have been distributed in 2007, compared with 13 million in 2006, and about 3 million in 2008.
"The use of condoms is only two pieces per head a year in the country with an over 50-million population," a senior executive with Ratana Metta Organization (RMO), a local NGO active in controlling the disease since 2004, said.
Most of the funding used to come from the Three Disease Fund (3DF), which was established in October 2006, pledging USD 100 million to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria in Burma over five years. The Fund for HIV/AIDS in Burma, which was established in 2003, finished its work in early 2007 for political reasons.
The gap between funding and the amount necessary to conduct HIV/AIDS prevention activities has grown for the NAP and partner organizations since late 2006. “And the gap was worse last year,” a senior official with NAP said. He noted that 3DF alone was not enough to achieve nationwide coverage for the activities under the program.
“Our efforts to prevent the transmission of the disease through sexual contact and drug use have become very efficient compared with past years,” he said, adding that sustained achievements depended on sufficient funding.
More NGOs are now tackling STDs and more people are aware of such diseases, but it is still a long way from meeting the needs of the country in this area. And the prevalence of HIV in the population has dropped from 0.94 percent in 2000 to 0.67percent in 2007, based on a new estimation method used at a regional basis, introduced during the year.
An increased involvement of local communities in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment was a good sign because it was important in developing a viable system of home-based care, the official said.
Meanwhile, public misperceptions, including the military government's reclusive attitude to any national development remains a major barrier to efforts to keep the disease under control.
"The problem is, we have to carry out our activities under a low profile, mainly because of authority sensitivity to even social activities, Actually we are providing social support to the needy community," said an official with another local NGO. There are about 100 local NGOs in Burma, active in such social welfare.
However, their low-profile activities have resulted in overlapping for the same area and/or missing out cases and areas across the country.
"The government is expected to have a healthier attitude to NGOs' work in this field, leading up to a better cooperation and coordination among the contributors, towards the prevention and treatment, sharing experiences and finding solutions to difficulties like dealing with the community or authority, and providing greater accessibility to funding and/or technical assistance from NGOs," the official said.
Despite the fact that HIV/AIDS is now redefined as a chronic disease, which can be given treatment with the availability of antiretroviral drugs that allow HIV-positive patients to live for longer periods, misconceptions about the patients remain persistent.
One HIV-infected woman, Ma Khine Htay (36), said she had faced discrimination from her neighbours, since she was infected by her second husband three years ago.
“My neighbours do not sit with me, even at a same table, and even my family does not pay much attention to me,” she said sadly.
Ironically, Ma Khine Khine Htay had survived a young adulthood spent as a sex worker, during which she said she always used protection because her supervisors reduced her earnings, if she failed to use protection with customers.
“I gave up that line of work when I got married in my 20s, but then my health became abnormal after I married my second husband, who had had other wives,” she said.
“I can accept the way people think of me because of my past, but I also want them to understand the ways that HIV is transmitted,” she said. “But, when I tell them, they just think I am trying to create a good impression,” she added.
She said she thought the best strategy would be for educational programs to be conducted more widely throughout Myanmar.
Another 32-year-old HIV-positive woman was accused by a NGO of taking advantage of the medicine distribution system. That is a reflection of poverty.
She said after receiving antiretroviral drugs for about a year, the NGO cut off her supply after it accused her of selling the medicine.
The executive with RMO said it was important to promote not only medical treatment but also psychological support for HIV-positive people in partnership with religious leaders.
"We are also trying to improve public attitude to HIV patients in order to lessen discrimination against them," the executive said, citing as an example that a patient was employed as one of the organization’s project managers.
And there is a coalition with the local business community, which has provided workplace courses in several towns since a couple of years ago, as part of its educational campaign about the disease.
The training courses cover such topics as prevention and protection, modes of transmission, personal risk assessments, voluntary counseling and confidential testing, covering more than 100,000 staff from more than 100 factories and businesses in Yangon and in other major towns such as Mandalay and Pyay.
An executive director of the coalition said there was no doubt that the courses were helping to change attitudes about AIDS, by countering misunderstandings about the disease.
“We encountered a staff member at one workplace, who had suffered from discrimination because his colleagues believed he was HIV positive but after the training their attitudes towards him were friendlier,” the Director said.
A source with the Ministry of Health said the number of peopl
e living with HIV/AIDS in Burma was estimated at about 240,000. However, a few of the NGOs denied this saying that the number would possibly be more than the government figures.
Being a developing country, most of the HIV affected people cannot afford to cure HIV and to have treatment with antiretroviral drug. As the government uses a very less budget for the health sector, the HIV affected people rely on the INGOs, NGOs.
Recent surveys of HIV patients seeking treatment at government hospitals conducted by the Ministry of Health revealed that about 30 percent of the cases resulted from sharing needles during drug use, and heterosexual sex contributes too.
The NAP is now collaborating with 18 international NGOs, 17 local NGOs and bilateral organizations in its work to curb the spread of the disease in Myanmar.
Across Asia, an estimated 4.9 million people are living with HIV, including 440,000 newly-infected in 2006, while about 300,000 died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2007.
Reports reveal that Southeast Asia had the highest prevalence of HIV in the continent, with Indonesia having the fastest rate of growth of HIV-infected people.
http://www.mizzima.com/edop/commentary/2126-burmas-current-situation-fuels-spread-of-hivaids.html
