Sweeping shortages of HIV-AIDS medication threaten lives in Mon State Tue 01 Dec 2009,IMNA, Rai Maraoh Hundreds of people in Mon state continue to suffer from HIV-AIDS in Mon State, but go untreated.
According to organizations that have worked to help treat and prevent HIV-AIDS in Mon state, many victims continue to go untreated or cannot access the limited supply of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs normally used to treat HIV-AIDS.
In July when IMNA initially reported on the subject, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) had doubled the number of people it was able to treat with ARV’s. However, the supply available to IOM has dwindled. One member of the IOM explained to IMNA, “Many people needed ARV [medicine] but we don’t have any more – we can only give [them] to patients who are in extreme emergency situations.”
According to IOM staff, many people who suffered HIV-AIDS in Mon state often remain unaware until their conditions dramatically worsen.
Many people are reported to have the opportunity and means to get themselves tested, but many do no want to check. Victims often find out only when an emergency situation arises, though injury or when HIV-AIDS begin to significantly manifest themselves, such as Kaposi's sarcoma (a skin tumor often associated with AIDS victims).
“Many patients they come to our group [only] when they begin to suffer more. We didn’t have enough medicine and some [patients] are nearly dead [when they arrive],” explained a staff member of IOM. “The patients like that we need to check [for] carefully and if they really need the medicine we decide to give it to them.”
In 2006 IOM began working in Mon State to help HIV-AIDS patients. At the time they were only able to supply vitamins and extra food. It wasn’t until 2008 that they were able to begin distributing ARV medication.
Yet despite success, many who suffer will not receive medication, as the program cannot widely distribute its small supply.
The IOM operates in 6 townships of Moulmein, Thanbyuzayat, Mudon, Kyaik-ma-yaw, Bee-lin, and Ye, in Mon State. IOM believes that there are close to 500 people diagnosed with HIV-AIDS in Mon State.
Many of the victims of HIV-AIDS have contracted the illness through the increasing volumes of unprotected sex, dug using or tainted hypodermic needles.
To address the epidemic before people contract it, IOM and Burma based NGO health organizations, like Zay Thana Foundation, are attempting to educate at risk persons and young people. The free workshops explain about HIV-AIDS, how people can be protected against becoming exposed, and how a person can live with the condition if they already have it.
A 2008 report form the UNAIDS/World Health Organization estimated that Burma had 240,000 people living with AIDS in 2007, but speculated the number could be as high as 370,000.
The 3 Diseases Fund (3DF) estimates that in 2008 approximately 75,000 of those who suffer with the disease need ARV medication, however just about 11,000 patients actually receive ARV treatment.
With the assistance of partner organizations, 3DF was able to treat approximately 6,800 people living with HIV with ARV drugs in 2008. 3DF is a Rangoon based international health organization that treats HIV, Miliaria and Teberculosis.
According to the international health organization Doctors Without Borders, this lack of available treatment leads to the deaths of nearly 25,000 HIV-AIDS patients a year in Burma.
