THE Ratana Metta Organisation will start providing antiretroviral drugs (ARV) to HIV-infected people for the first time starting in January, said U Myint Swe, the president of the organisation.

He said the Buddhist non-government organisation will provide drugs for 10 HIV patients during a six-month pilot period with support from the Three Diseases Fund. Depending on the results of the pilot program, the organisation will try to expand the project to include more patients in the future.

He said the first 10 patients will be people who are seeking treatment for opportunistic infections at the organisation’s clinic, which was opened at its headquarters in Bahan township in 2005.

The patients will be chosen based on medical guidelines provided by doctors at Yangon’s Waibargi Hospital – Myanmar’s main hospital for infectious disease treatment – and social criteria developed by HIV-infected people.

U Myint Swe said that some of the 450 patients who have sought treatment at the clinic this year had received ARV drugs from other organisations but many others did not.

“There are about 50 patients at the clinic who need ARV treatment,” he said.
He said the ARV treatments would be another step in the organisation’s continuing process of improving its services.

“The clinic provided treatment for 70 patients in 2005 and 250 patients in 2006 for their infections and now sees about 40 patients a day,” he said.

He said tuberculosis and skin diseases were the most common forms of infection among HIV patients.

“We’re providing tuberculosis treatment for HIV/TB co-infected patients using a directly observed treatment short-course strategy,” he said.

U Myint Swe said the organisation also promotes knowledge about HIV prevention from the Buddhist perspective, provides treatment for HIV and supports the families of HIV-infected patients.

Ratana Metta project manager U Thein Swe said the organisation will also hold its second month-long sewing course in January to help women seeking treatment for HIV at the clinic generate income.

“We’re now taking orders from the community for clothes made by women who are attending the first sewing course, which finishes this month,” he said, adding that the organisation will also provide sewing machines for the women.