Increase coverage of HIV and AIDS services in Myanmar

By the beginning of the new decade, a number of organisations had begun working on HIV and AIDS, though not yet in a formally coordinated manner. The Joint Programme on AIDS in Myanmar 2003–2005 was an attempt to deliver HIV services through a planned and agreed strategic framework. Donors established the Fund for HIV/AIDS in Myanmar (FHAM), providing a pooled mechanism for funding and significantly increasing the resources available in Myanmar. By 2006 substantial advances had been made in terms of scope and diversity of service delivery, including outreach to most at risk populations to HIV. More organisations provided more services to an increased number of people. Services ranged from the provision of HIV prevention messages via mass media and through peers from high-risk groups, to the provision of care, treatment and support for people living with HIV. However, the data also show that this scaling up has not been sufficient to reach the vast majority of people in need of HIV and AIDS services.The operating environment constrains activities, but does not, in general, prohibit them. The slow rate of service expansion can be attributed to the burdens imposed by administrative measures, broader constraints on research, debate and organizing, and insufficient resources. Nevertheless, evidence of recent years illustrates that increased investment leads to more services provided to people in need, helping them to obtain their right to health care. But service expansion, policy improvement and capacity building cannot occur without more resources.Myanmar is one of South-East Asia's countries hardest hit by the HIV epidemic. At the end of 2005, UNAIDS and WHO estimate that 1.3% (range 0.7–2.0%) of the adult population were infected by HIV [1]. This percentage results in an estimated 360,000 people (range 200,000–570,000) living with HIV. Epidemiological analysis suggests that the HIV epidemic may be levelling off since the early part of the decade [2] (See Table 1).An