Mr. President,

On behalf of the Delegation of the Union of Myanmar and on my own behalf, I would first of all wish to extend our sincere congratulations to Your Excellency on your election as President of this UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS.  We are fully confident that the Special Session will be able to achieve its objectives under your wisdom
and able guidance.

Mr. President,

The holding of the Special Session on HIV/AIDS is most timely and appropriate.  The scourge of this disease is assuming ever greater dimensions and therefore it is most fitting that the governments of the world should come together to find the best ways of
halting its spread and reversing it.  Allow me to assure you that the Government of the Union of Myanmar is most willing to join hands with other nations in the fight against this threat to the entire mankind.

In this regard, I would like to take the opportunity to briefly present the HIV/AIDS situation in Myanmar.  Despite the gloomy picture painted by some reports including some UN reports, I wish to state categorically that HIV/AIDS is not rampant in the nation.  The misconception arose from taking the statistics from high risk areas and trying to portray as though it is representative of the entire nation.  We are therefore deeply gratified at recent attempts by international organizations to correct the distortion and to arrive at a more realistic assessment.

Although the disease is not endemic in the country, we are fully aware of the tremendous toll it could exact, not only on the victim alone but also to the society as a whole.  Consequently, HIV/AIDS has been designated as a disease of national concern and
Myanmar is committed to fight this disease by using all its available resources.  A high level multi-sectoral National AIDS Committee, chaired by the Minister of Health, was formed since 1989, to oversee the National AIDS Program in Myanmar.  The National Health Committee, the highest policy making body in Myanmar, with ministers from various government ministries as members and chaired by Secretary (1) of the State Peace and Development Council, is providing policy guidelines to enhance HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities in the country.

Active surveillance for HIV and AIDS began in Myanmar in 1985 and biannual HIV sentinel surveillance started in 1992 in 9 sites. By the year 2000, HIV sentinel surveillance was expanded to cover all States and Divisions totaling 27 sentinel sites.  Moreover, behavioural surveillance was introduced in the country in 1997.  These sentinel sites are all in urban areas and some are in the border areas considered to be high risk.  The data from these sentinel sites therefore cannot be generalized to represent the whole country.

Although international assistance has been limited, the Ministry of Health has implemented a comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention and control program.  Health education geared towards behaviour change, care and compassion for persons with HIV/AIDS, condom promotion in a culturally appropriate way, reduction of the harmful consequences of injection drug use, blood safety covering remote and rural areas, sentinel surveillance system including behavioural surveillance and enhanced multi-sectoral approach and enhancing the capacity of national NGOs are priorities in the National AIDS program.
Prevention of mother to child transmission (PMCT) was implemented in 1998.  A school based  healthy  living and AIDS prevention education, a co-curriculum for school children from 4th to 9th grade has also been introduced in Myanmar covering 1.5 million students and over 7000 school teachers in 50 townships.
A pilot 100% condom use among targeted population program has been launched in the focus townships.

Mr. President,

Early in the year, the National AIDS program and the UNAIDS drafted a joint plan of action for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in Myanmar.  This plan reflects the cultural characteristics and the priorities of the country.  It contains technically sound strategies and is comprehensive in nature, covering all aspects i.e. preventive, curative and rehabilitative.
However, implementation of the plan will require considerable financial resources.  Thus we are mobilizing support for the plan from international as well as local agencies.
 
Late last year, in accordance with guidelines from the National Health Committee, the 8th National AIDS committee meeting established the multi-sectoral Special Strategic Committee to enhance and upgrade countrywide HIV/AIDS prevention and control
activities.  This includes increasing awareness and provision of behaviour change communication conducive to adoption of sound and healthy lifestyles, with special emphasis on reaching the rural areas; expansion of voluntary testing and counseling services both in the formal and private sectors and strengthening of AIDS/STD teams especially in early diagnosis and effective treatment of STIs and the adoption of syndromic management strategy.

 In conclusion, I would like to reiterate that Myanmar will do its utmost to fight HIV/AIDS with whatever resources available.  We will also continue to collaborate and cooperate with national, regional and international partners to further strengthen our
activities.  I am confident that our efforts will be successful in combating this public health problem and in contributing towards the amelioration of the suffering of untold millions in this world.

 Thank you.