Myanmar to Provide Free Treatment to Half of HIV/AIDS Patients by 2016
reliefweb, 3 December 2014 - Myanmar has pledged to provide free treatment to around half of the country’s patients affected by HIV and AIDS by 2016, as civil society groups called on the government to increase efforts to meet upcoming global eradication targets on World AIDS Day.
Health Minister Than Aung told reporters in the capital Naypyidaw on Monday that the government would spend around U.S. $5 million next year on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for nearly all of the people affected with HIV/AIDS in Myanmar that are not already receiving the treatment.
“According to our records from June, more than 120,000 HIV/AIDS patients [are not receiving ART] and around 75,000 patients have been getting it for free through local and international organizations in 2014,” he said at a press conference to mark the World Health Organization’s (WHO) 27th annual World AIDS Day.
“We plan to provide free ART treatment to 111,000 HIV/AIDS patients [in 2016].”
According to the United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) agency, some 190,000 people in Myanmar were living with HIV in 2013.