After the military seized power from Myanmar’s democratically elected government on February 1, 2021, doctors and nurses were among the first to lead the protests – walking out of their jobs days after. This had an overwhelming impact on the public healthcare system, including the National AIDS Program (NAP), which provides medication, consultations and counselling to more than 150,000 people living with HIV.
The impact on people living with HIV
Delayed diagnosis or interrupted treatment is devastating for people living with HIV. It leads to increased levels of the virus in their blood, weakening their immune system and leaving their body struggling to fight off potentially deadly opportunistic infections. And if HIV is not diagnosed until it is in an advanced stage, it becomes less responsive to treatment.
There were 2,929 missed appointments at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinics between February and October, an 89 percent increase on the same period last year. Worryingly, we are seeing many patients who we cannot contact at all. In Shan state our community outreach workers have lost touch with 120 people since February – a 50 percent increase year-on-year – and for these people there is little we can do.
