Fears are growing for the welfare of detained Burmese Aids activist Phyu Phyu Thin (35), who has been on a hunger strike since June 19.
Thin and 11 other activists were arrested on May 21 while attending a prayer service for opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 years. They were praying for her release.
Human rights activists fear Thin’s detention is a direct result of her public protest in January about the lack of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in government hospitals. Radio Free Asia quotes Thin in an interview prior to her detention in which she suggests that Aids mortality figures in Burma could be far higher than the official tally.
Myanmar’s official data claims the epidemic is slowing down from 2,2% in 2000 to 1,3% in 2005, according to the military government’s National Aids Programme.
Thin claimed during the interview that the ruling junta did not keep an accurate record of Aids deaths, suggesting mortality might be far higher than reported. “For some, when they die at home, on the death certificates they list all kinds of other diseases, but do not mention that it is from HIV/Aids. They don’t want people to know about it, so they are not paying attention to this matter.”
While Burma has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in Asia — estimated at 1,3% of the adult population — fears that aid money could be misappropriated by the junta have left donors reluctant to contribute to the fight against Aids. In the past three years, the junta has opened up to about 30 international agencies working to fight the disease, but their activities remain limited.
Intimidation
Volunteers say the junta’s attitude towards HIV prevention has improved recently, after officials denied its rapid spread throughout the 1990s. But opposition activists have accused the junta of intimidating HIV/Aids patients and their supporters.
BurmaNet News says it is believed Thin and other detained activists are being held at the Kyaikkasan stadium in Rangoon.
“The authorities have refused to give any information about where she is detained. We are concerned very much about her health,” said Thin’s sister, Sabae Thin.
Democratic Voice of Burma News reports that Thin’s family plans to file a missing-person case with the police and sue the Rangoon authorities if they refuse to disclose where she is being held.
Thin is a member of the NLD youth wing and a key figure in their HIV and Aids outreach programme. She has cared for people with Aids at her home in Rangoon since 2002 and helps with counselling, housing and medication.
On June 25, hundreds of Burmese people living with Aids courageously signed a letter calling for Thin’s immediate release. “For me, as well as for other patients, we are all in trouble because of Ma Phyu’s arrest,” HIV patient Ma Aye, from Kyauk Badaung, said. Other worried patients said: “We have not received our medicines, which she administers. Emotionally, we are very discouraged because she’s not around. All of our other patients are sad and crying. We don’t know what to do.”
Dr Thein Win, a Burmese doctor in exile in South Africa and spokesperson for the Free Burma Campaign, says the junta is trying desperately to hide the fact that Burma has one of the worst HIV epidemics in South-East Asia.
“About 80% of people in Burma don’t know their HIV status,” he says, adding that individuals are not allowed to take HIV tests at private clinics. “This is done so they can keep the statistics under their control and tell the international community that everything is fine.” — Additional reporting by Jacqueline Holman
The truth about Burma
Burma has an adult — age 15 to 49 — HIV infection rate of 1,3%
Seven percent of HIV-infected women and men receive antiretroviral therapy
In 2005, the Myanmar Health Ministry spent $137Â 000 on HIV, equivalent to less than half of $0,01 per person. This compares with $1,43 per capita in Thailand and $0,07 per capita in Cambodia, the other two high-prevalence countries in South-East Asia
Thailand has an adult HIV prevalence rate of 1,4%, with 30,6% of pregnant women receiving treatment to reduce mother-to-child transmission and 60% of HIV-infected women and men receiving antiretroviral therapy
The Human Poverty Index ranks Burma 47th among 102 developing countries for which the index has been calculated
Source: UNAids
On the net
Freeburmacampaignsouthafrica.org.za