UN official praises Myanmar anti-AIDS campaign

YANGON, Jan 26 (AFP) 

A senior United Nations official has praised Myanmar's progress in the fight against HIV/ AIDS but urged concerted action to avoid a "terrible epidemic", according to a media report here.

Kathleen Cravero, the deputy executive director of the UNAIDS agency who visited the country this month, said there had been a "dynamic change" in the campaign since her previous visit 15 months ago, the Myanmar Times said in its edition to be published Monday.

"I was really impressed by the commitment shown by senior divisional and state level officials," Cravero told the semi-official weekly, adding that leaders were willing to talk frankly about the problems.

She said local townships had shown commitment to tackling the crisis but stressed the need for a broader nationwide program so that "every citizen of Myanmar understands what AIDS is and has the resources and information to prevent infection."

"The people of Myanmar need to take the problem seriously and to take concerted action if they want to avoid a terrible epidemic in the future," she said.

Commitments by national leaders and the work of groups involved in combatting the health crisis had left her "very optimistic" that the goals of the two-year-old UN-Myanmar joint plan on HIV/AIDS would be realised.

UNAIDS estimates that up to 400,000 people among a population of 48 million are infected with HIV, while independent experts working in Yangon say the incidence could be twice as high.

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