Mar 28, 2006 (DVB) - The spread of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and avian flu has become worse in Burma due to draconian restrictions by the ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), according to a report published by US medical experts on 27 March. The 80-pages report which was jointly researched and written by Dr. Chris Beyer and six other medical experts from John Hopkins Bloomberg UniversityÂ’s School of Public Health, details the spread of HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria and bird flu in Burma. According to the statistics of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2000, one in 29 adults in Burma had HIV, and between 40,000 and 80,000 sufferers had died within the year. But the SPDC Health ministryÂ’s list said that only 800 people died from the disease. Moreover, Burma is said to be among 22 countries which have the worse cases of tuberculosis and there are 97,000 new patients each year, and therefore, 40% of BurmaÂ’s population could be sufferers of the disease. According to the statistics of the junta, in 2005 there were more than 700,000 malaria suffers and many of them are of the high risk group.
While the public health condition is that dire, the restrictions of humanitarian groups by the ruling junta is posing a real threat of the diseases widely spreading into the neighbouring countries, according to Beyer.