Perhaps if this journalist used local sources instead of people far away from Myanmar this piece would get closer to truth.
Myanmar cannot be said to be 'topping' its neighbours. Vietnam has over fifty thousand people taking methadone. And the number of service delivery sites is a poor metric to measure progress.
Jamie
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Myanmar tops neighbours in fight against diseases linked to illegal drug use
John Liu
Myanmar Times
28 December 2018
Myanmar has made significant progress compared to its Asian neighbours in preventing diseases associated with the use of illegal drugs, an international non-governmental organisation said.
The Global State of Harm Reduction 2018 report released last month by UK-based Harm Reduction International (HRI) said the government has invested more than US$1 million (K1.57 billion) every year in the programme since 2016. The report details harm reduction programmes and policies adopted by countries around the world.
“This commitment places Myanmar in a public health leadership role relative to many other low- and middle-income countries,” Naomi Burke-Shyne, HRI executive director, said in an email.
In the past two years, needle and syringe programmes (NSP) and opioid substitution therapy (OST), two principal measures of harm reduction, have seen an increase from 40 to 271 and from 35 to 51, respectively, the report said.
The HRI focuses on the public health, social and legal effects of drug use and drug policy. It has published the Global State of Harm Reduction reports biennially since 2008.
Harm reduction practices like these can effectively eliminate the risks of contracting blood-borne diseases like HIV and hepatitis C. It is estimated that HIV can be prevented by up to 34.9 percent and hepatitis C by up to 56pc for people who inject drugs, the report said.
It said Myanmar is one of the few countries with formalised instructions on harm reduction for people who use amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS). According to the World Health Organization, ATS include amphetamines and methamphetamines principally.
“Myanmar is one of just five countries in Asia to increase the number of needle and syringe programmes available in the past two years,” Burke-Shyne said.
However, the report noted global stagnation on harm reduction.
“The lack of progress in implementing harm reduction measures is a major concern and stunting progress in global health,” said Katie Stone, HRI’s public health and social policy lead. Fewer than half of the 179 countries where people inject drugs provide NSP and OST.
Also, Myanmar’s health sector remains underdeveloped and severely underfunded. The country’s health spending as a percentage of GDP has not changed in the past few years.
BMI Research’s pharmaceuticals and healthcare report for the third quarter of 2018 shows that while health spending is forecast to grow from $1.476 billion in 2017 to $2.364 billion in 2022, health spending in terms of GDP percentage is likely to keep falling until 2022.
https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-tops-neighbours-fight-against-diseases-linked-illegal-drug-use.html
