Myanmar Has Made Significant Progress in Controlling Spread of HIV, Health Ministry Says

Myanmar has made significant progress in controlling the spread of HIV over the past two decades, according to the Ministry of Health, Xinhua/People's Daily reports. Health Minister Kyaw Myint said recently that HIV prevalence in Myanmar has decreased from 1.5% in 2000 to 1.3% in 2005. In addition, HIV prevalence among pregnant women has decreased from 2.2% in 2000 to 1.3% in 2005. According to Xinhua/People's Daily, 40 million condoms were distributed in Myanmar in 2005, compared with 11 million distributed in 1999. According to the health ministry, 2,500 people were provided with access to antiretroviral treatment in 2006 and 10,000 received home-based care, and the country over the next two years aims to provide antiretroviral treatment to 4,000 additional people (Xinhua/People's Daily, 11/30).