Burma, which only recently emerged from a half-century of dictatorship and self-imposed isolation, has one of the world's worst health care systems, with tens of thousands dying each year because treatment is lacking for many diseases, including AIDS. The country remains one of the hardest places to get care for HIV. Of the estimated 190,000 people who lived with the virus last year, only a third received treatment, and more than 15,000 died from the disease, according to UNAIDS. Intravenous drug users, along with miners who often become infected through drug use and sex workers, are the most likely to be infected with HIV. Burma has 300,000 drug users, according to the United Nations. A center set up by the political party headed by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, however, has been providing antiretroviral drugs for HIV patients for almost two decades. The center has repeatedly been forced to move, in part because of harassment by government officials. Now, its leaders are hoping they have found a permanent home on the outskirts of Rangoon.
Chronicle Staff and News Services
http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/for-burmesehuge-strugglefor-survival/
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