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Map of Southeast Asia |
CIAO DATE: 05/04
Myanmar: The HIV/AIDS Crisis
April 2, 2002
Abstract
HIV prevalence is rising rapidly in Burma/Myanmar,1 fuelled by population mobility, poverty and frustration that breeds risky sexual activity and drug-taking. Already, one in 50 adults are estimated to be infected, and infection rates in sub-populations with especially risky behaviour (such as drug users and sex workers) are among the highest in Asia. Because of the long lag time between HIV infection and death, the true impact of the epidemic is just beginning to be felt. Households are losing breadwinners, children are losing parents, and some of the hardest-hit communities, particularly some fishing villages with very high losses from HIV/AIDS, are losing hope. Worse is to come, but how much worse depends on the decisions that Myanmar and the international community take in the coming months and years.
The widespread incidence of HIV is a security issue in itself Ð it can undermine economic, personal and national security.2 It can also undermine the already weak capacity of the state to govern, threaten security and military structures and have a devastating impact on the economy.
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