Burma Marks World AIDS Day with Hope for More Aid

01/12/2009
By WAI MOE

To mark the occasion of World AIDS Day, Burma's state-run media today lauded the country's ruling regime for its efforts to combat the killer disease, and in the process inadvertantly highlighted the junta's woefully inadequate role in containing a scourge that is claiming countless lives.

“The government is fighting AIDS with the use of manpower and financial power,” read a brief commentary in today's edition of The New Light of Myanmar. “It spent 191.4 million kyat in 2007 in fighting the disease. UNAIDS officially announced that AIDS cases in Myanmar [Burma] dropped from 0.94 percent in 2000 to 0.67 percent in 2007.”

If the rate of HIV/AIDS is decreasing in Burma, it is difficult to see how the regime can take much credit for that success. Spending 191.4 million kyat—around US $200,000—certainly isn't going to make much of a difference in a country where there are an estimated 240,000 people living with HIV.

But like governments all over the world, the generals who rule Burma held a ceremony in their capital of Naypyidaw to show officials from international organizations that they mean business.
Ahead of World AIDS Day, the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO) claimed on Nov. 24 that new HIV infections have been reduced worldwide by 17 percent over the past eight years and the number of AIDS-related deaths has dropped by more than 10 percent over the past five years.

What about the situation in Burma, one of the world's worst-hit countries? As the New Light of Myanmar noted, quoting UNAIDS, the prevalence of HIV/AIDS has also fallen in Burma. What the commentary does not mention, however, is that the infection rate in 2006 was 1.2 percent of the population—making the decline the following year all the more dramatic.

Is this a result of tampering with the numbers to create a false impression of success? Not according to one Burmese AIDS expert who spoke to The Irrawaddy on condition of anonymity.
“Most WHO and UNAIDS experts agreed that it's not a politically biased underestimate,” he said.

There are many reasons for the falling number of AIDS cases in Burma, he said, not the least of which is the fact that many of those who have contracted the disease have simply died due to a lack of treatment.

According to international relief organization Medecins Sans Frontieres, 25,000 people died of AIDS-related illnesses in Burma in 2007. The Burmese AIDS expert also cited changes in the way infection rates are estimated as another possible reason for the decline. And to a lesser extent, there is some evidence that prevention programs and “the diffusion of information, knowledge and safe practices [is] having some protection effect.”

However, other health workers in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Burma expressed skepticism about the decreasing number of HIV-infected people in the country.

“It is too early to say that HIV infections have dropped in Burma as many people living with HIV have not yet been documented,” said Phyu Phyu Thin, a leading AIDS activist with the opposition National League for Democracy.

“The capacity of the Ministry of Health, international NGOs and UN agencies in responding to the epidemic is quite limited by budget, public health education as well as because of restriction by the authorities,” she added.

Other experts agree with this assessment. “Principal challenges include the politicized and difficult operation environment, chronic underfunding, a weak public sector and insufficient multi-sectoral engagement from non-health government departments,” according to the UNAIDS’ situation report on the country.

While the military regime spends little on the war on HIV/AIDS, the people of Burma also get little international assistance to fight the disease compared to neighboring countries due to the political situation and transparency issues. The development assistance for Burma is roughly $3-5 per person, while Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam get 10 times that amount.

“The collective capacity of the UN, NGOs and the Health Ministry has not been utilized because of the shortage in funds,” said the Burmese expert. “There are also other needs obviously—technical capacity, conducive operating environment, stronger accountability, etc. But the biggest need is financial resources.”

As the international community, particularly Washington, shows a growing willingness to engage with the Burmese regime, funds for humanitarian issues in the country could increase. Recently, the the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria decided to return to Burma for the first time since it withdrew from the country in 2005. A meeting of the Global Fund was held in Naypyidaw today, according international NGO sources.

“The return of the Global Fund will be welcomed by AIDS workers in Burma, but even with that there will still be funding gaps in both treatment and prevention activities on HIV,” said the Burmese expert.

Also adding to the momentum for an increase in aid to Burma is the position of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who in recent meetings with Western diplomats has expressed support for plans to increase the level of humanitarian assitance coming into the country.