Here are two articles recently published about HIV. Both are light on content and both were published long after the event that they were supposed to cover. The first one is two weeks late and the second one three months late.
The important news, that Myanmar has made a major achievement in starting people living with HIV on antiretroviral treatment, is not mentioned.
About half of the estimated number of people living with HIV in the country take antiretroviral treatment. Wonderful. This is about the same as Vietnam where millions of US PEPFAR dollars have been invested. Makes you wonder where all the money went in Vietnam.
Jamie
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Myanmar has sixth-most HIV infections among Asia-Pacific nations
Coconuts Yangon
December 14, 2016 / 17:29 MMT
Thirty people are infected with HIV every day in Myanmar, said Sports and Health Minister Dr Myint Htwe at a World AIDS Day event on Naypyidaw on December 2.
Yangon, Mandalay, Myitkyina, Hpakant and towns along the Thai-Myanmar border are at the highest risk of HIV infection, and Myanmar stands as the sixth-most infected country in the Asia-Pacific region, the minister said.
“This is not a good sign. Our Ministry of Health cannot prevent infections alone. We all have to collaborate,” he said.
According to government statistics, 29 percent of HIV patients in Myanmar contract the disease through drug use, 7 percent from prostitution, 13 percent from male-male sex and 23 percent from male clients of sex workers. According to UNAIDS, Myanmar had between 200,000 and 260,000 HIV patients in 2015.
http://yangon.coconuts.co/2016/12/14/myanmar-has-sixth-most-hiv-infections-among-asia-pacific-nations
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HIV stigmatisation needs to be curtailed: support group
Myint Kay Thi
Myanmar Times
Tuesday, 20 December 2016
A national network of people living with HIV has called on the government to take bolder measures to destigmatise the virus and improve services provision in collaboration with the private sector.
The network, known as the Myanmar Positives Group (MPG), released a statement on December 16 outlining the six main outcomes from a HIV Community Forum.
More than 300 people, including representatives from self-help groups, UN agencies, local and international NGOs and the government, attended the two-day event, held in September, which aimed to address key problems faced by individuals living with HIV.
According to the statement, the chief concern is putting an end to discrimination and stigma against people with HIV.
“In my opinion there has been no lessening of discrimination in the community. The level of stigma is still high,” said MPG program officer U Than Htoon.
MPG called on the government to reduce discrimination in general and to support the development of a draft law which would provide specific protections to people living with HIV.
“We have been told by HIV positive community leaders that they face many difficulties in receiving an education or pursuing their career,” said U Min San Tun, a senior program officer at MPG.
Along with difficulties in seeking jobs and education, the statement said that discrimination acts as a barrier to seeking healthcare in the first place, diminishing efforts made in the fight against the disease.
Strengthened services provision and improved access to affordable medicines were also among the statement’s recommendations.
According to the statement, there are also treatment-access issues after a government decentralisation plan began in 2014. The plan aimed to ease the burden on ART treatment centres in cities, but HIV-positive individuals aired apprehensions about moving treatment closer to home, including facing more discrimination if their status was not previously publicly known.
“Many HIV positive people have faced difficulties in the process of being transferred from the ART treatment centres to the decentralised clinics at the township level,” said U Min San Tun.
There are an estimated 225,000 people living with HIV in Myanmar, according to 2015 figures from the Ministry of Health and Sport. Almost 9000 of these are members of MPG’s network of 184 self-help groups across the country.
MPG also recommended greater involvement of their members and volunteers in the implementation of the government’s national strategic plan on HIV/AIDS.
According to the group’s chair U Thawdar Htun, the statement and its recommendations will be submitted to the Ministry of Health, as well as UN agencies, partner organisations and parliament.
http://www.mmtimes.com/index.php/national-news/yangon/24287-hiv-stigmatisation-needs-to-be-curtailed-support-group.html
