Doctors in Burma are calling for the “devastating gap” between people’s need and access to treatment for HIV and Aids to be bridged. There are approximately 240,000 people with HIV in Burma, half of whom are in urgent need of life-saving antiretroviral treatment (ART), say doctors. According to national estimates in 2010, less than 30,000 of them were receiving it. (more…)

Bangkok – Political reforms unfolding in Myanmar (or Burma) are giving health workers a chance to address a resurgence of drug-resistant falciparum malaria in the war-torn ethnic minority enclaves along the country’s eastern borders.
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Myanmar is quadrupling its health budget this year and focusing on hiring more doctors, securing supplies and renovating hospitals as it tries to modernise after decades of isolation, Health Minister Pe Thet Khin said on Tuesday. (more…)

A group of prominent ex-political prisoners has called for more to be done to help former inmates adjust to their new lives outside of jail. (more…)

Bangkok – A lack of access to healthcare is causing unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and deaths among hundreds of thousands of displaced, migrant and refugee women along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, a U.S-based NGO says. (more…)

BANGKOK — Some 85,000 HIV-infected people in Myanmar are not getting treatment due to a lack of funding, despite renewed international engagement with the government amid a wave of political reform, a medical aid group said Wednesday. (more…)

While international attention focuses on Burma, a health crisis in the country looms large.
An estimated 85,000 people infected with HIV in Burma are not receiving life-saving anti-retroviral treatment (ART). (more…)

Rangoon, Burma – In less than a year, Burma’s new government has rolled out a series of reforms that have encouraged even its biggest critics. The release of political prisoners and a promise of more open elections are enticing some of those critics to join the political arena. One longtime activist now is considering a run for office. (more…)

Humanitarian workers in northern Burma have expressed deep concern about the health conditions of thousands of war refugees in Kachin State who have been displaced along the Sino-Burmese border for eight months.

Aid workers said that preventable illnesses caused by unsanitary conditions and cold weather are taking their toll on more than 45,000 internally displaced persons (IDP) in two dozen camps as sporadic fighting between the Burmese government army and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) continues.
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Burma’s undernourished health sector will see a rise in government spending of 0.7 percent over the coming fiscal year, as well as an increase in staff numbers and facilities.

Still however the rise will bring total annual spending to only two percent of the budget, keeping Burma among the world’s lowest countries in terms of money allocated to healthcare. (more…)

A 45-year old patient named Abdul Hamid from Buthidaung has been suffering from pain in his stomach for over one year. He has been receiving treatment from local doctors, but has not had any positive results. He recently traveled to Bangladesh, where his wife was going to sell ornaments. (more…)

USAID is set to expand a US$24 million anti-malaria project into Myanmar, health officials said last week. (more…)

An area of Kachin state in northern Burma designated as off-limits to aid groups is suffering from major food shortages and spread of diseases, according to a report which claims to show “compelling evidence” of human rights violations committed by the Burmese military in the war-torn state. (more…)

The Burma Army in Papun Township has arrested two community health workers from the Back Pack Health Worker Team who were giving medical treatment to villagers in the area. (more…)

THE Minister for Health has called on trained medical professionals living abroad to return to Myanmar and contribute their services to improve the health sector. (more…)

Mae Sot – In conflict-afflicted eastern Myanmar, until recently obstetric care was often crude, unsterile and dangerous for both mother and child, health experts say. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – Myanmar Academy of Medical Science has been formed for 12 years; and in reviewing its tasks, the executive committees and members have made concerted efforts for achieving success to some extent, said Union Minister for Health Dr Pe Thet Khin at the Annual General Meeting of the Myanmar Academy of Medical Science for 2010-2011 at the hall of the University of Nursing (Yangon) on Bogyoke Aung San Street yesterday morning. (more…)

International medical aid group Medicins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) has expressed “deep concern” about the health of migrant workers in Thailand as it confirmed that it would pull out of the country. (more…)

Britain reducing bilateral aid for projects in developing nations from nearly £60m to £41m in next four years. (more…)

Bangkok – A major international medical aid group said on Monday it was pulling out of Thailand after 36 years because of government interference, leaving thousands of migrants without access to a doctor. (more…)