Testing for HIV in Burma

By Loa Htaw (IMNA)

Independent Mon News Agency

17 July 2004

People in Burma have little incentive to test their HIV status, said Jamie Uhrig, a former employee of the World Health Organization (WHO) in that country.

A young man from Rangoon agreed that many people in Burma don’t want to have the HIV test because it is expensive and even if they discover they are infected it is difficult to get treatment. He said most people even don’t know that what ARV drugs are. So, if they know they are infected, they would become depressed as there is a lot discrimination against people who are HIV positive.

Another problem about HIV testing in Burma is lack of confidentiality, said AIDS expert Dr. Chris Beyrer. He was talking at the Foreign Correspondent Club in Bangkok on Tuesday.

Uhrig agreed. "The doctor may tell their wife or husband; they may tell their sister or brother. That person may tell their neighbour and so the news spreads. Of course there is also the fear of government knowing you have HIV.”

Confusion also surrounds the exact number of HIV infections in Burma.

The UN's 2004 Global AIDS Report estimates that about 330,000 people are infected. Government statistics put the rate at just over 50% of that figure.

Liz Hilton the spokesperson of Empower, a Thai organization that supports and educates sex workers, said the Burma HIV statistics are contradictory because there are statistics from government, statistics from international NGOs, statistics from the opposition democracy movement and UN statistics. "So, it's just like playing with numbers, " she said.

Regarding government statistics Hilton commented, “We don’t know how they get their figures. Maybe they go and ask the fortune teller!”

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