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Participants
at the dissemination workshop on findings of HIV sentinel serosurveillance survey & behaviour
surveillance survey 2007-08, Yangon.
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With technical input from WHO and
financial support from the 3 Diseases Fund, the National AIDS Programme (NAP) of the Department of Health has
substantially improved the HIV surveillance system in recent years. These
improvements include the revision of HIV Sero-sentinel
surveillance (HSS) protocols as well as the introduction of behavioral
surveillance among populations at higher risk of HIV.
In Yangon on 3rd April 2009 the Department of Health held
a dissemination workshop for the findings of recent surveys including, the
latest HSS and the Behavioral surveillance surveys among populations at
higher risk including female sex workers, injecting drug users and
out-of-school youth conducted in 2008.
Representatives from the Ministry of Health and other
relevant government bodies as well as stakeholders in the national response
to HIV/AIDS such as community based organizations, networks of people living
with HIV, international and national non-governmental organizations, donor
representatives and UN agencies participated in this workshop.
Participants were introduced to HIV surveillance systems
in Myanmar
and the efforts of NAP to implement HIV Second Generation Surveillance as
recommended by WHO and UNAIDS. The NAP also
presented in detail the methodology used in each of the surveys as well as
the findings and preliminary recommendations for action to address the
challenges in prevention highlighted by the surveys findings. The data
collected suggest continued high HIV prevalence among population groups at
higher risk surveyed (female sex workers, men who have sex with men and
injecting drug users) as well as diverse patterns of risk behavior - such as
sharing contaminated injection equipment- with regional variations. In some
areas the surveys demonstrate overlapping of risk behaviors such as injecting
drug and paid sex. On the positive side, the surveys confirm what has been
observed in previous surveys such as increased report of condom use among sex
workers and clients and improved access and utilization of prevention and
care services in some areas such as for injecting drug users in Lashio township (Northern Shan
State).
The NAP plans to hold such workshops on an annual basis so
that partners can inform their HIV programming based on the latest available
evidence.
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