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The Burnet Institute’s Centre for International Health is working in Myanmar (Burma) to enhance the delivery of quality HIV programs throughout the country. The Burnet Institute has a long-term association with Myanmar that began in the early 1990s through consultancy relationships. In 2003, the Burnet Myanmar office was established. Through its local implementing partners, Burnet Myanmar’s program reach extends to six states and divisions.
Myanmar shares borders with Thailand, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, China, Bangladesh and India. Its estimated total population in 2002 was close to 49 million, with about 25.9 million in the 15-49 year-old age group. Myanmar is one of the least densely populated countries in Asia, and the rugged, forested portion of its terrain is still only lightly settled; it is a land of villages, where less than one-quarter of the population live in urban areas. The annual population growth rate is high by world standards, but is about average for south-east Asia.
Myanmar has a centrally planned, developing economy that is largely nationalised and is based principally upon agriculture and trade. The GNP per capital, however, remains one of the lowest in the world.
Based on the revised HIV prevalence estimate of about 200,000 in 2002, the annual number of AIDS deaths in Myanmar is estimated to be close to 20,000 in 2003 and this annual toll will steadily increase, approaching 30,000 in 2010. HIV and AIDS ranks as the third priority health condition in Myanmar after malaria and TB. However, there are currently a limited number of local organisations supporting the response to HIV and AIDS and their capacity in this sector is weak.
In Myanmar the majority of reported infections have occurred among young people, with more than 75 per cent of AIDS cases in the 20-39 age group, 50 per cent of cases have occurred among people aged 20-29 years, and 58 per cent of infections are due to sexual transmission and 22 per cent through injecting drug use.