HIV

The Global Fund will fund Myanmar through UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) with 247.89 million dollars to combat HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria between 2018 to 2020, Myanmar News Agency reported on Thursday.

Myanmar, the UNOPS and Save the Children signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to fight Infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDs, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria.

Under the MoU signed with the country’s Ministry of Health and Sports, Save the Children would contribute 90.85 million dollars to fight the diseases.

Myanmar had launched HIV/AIDS Flagship (UHF) project in February to be implemented in five regions and states with the highest rate of HIV infection.

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With a fund of 10 million dollars and backed by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the two-year project covers Kachin and Shan states and Sagaing, Yangon and Mandalay regions.

The project aims to scale up HIV prevention, testing and treatment services by utilising Non-Governmental Organisations and private health providers for people living with HIV and drug addicts, sex workers and transgender people.

According to statistics, 224,794 people are living with HIVin Myanmar which ranked 25th on the list of countries with a high rate of HIV prevalence.

The rate of new patients with HIV infection dropped 26 per cent in 2016 from 2010, while the death toll due to AIDS-related disease plunged 52 per cent.