How Myanmar Is Working to Maintain Essential Services for People Living With HIV and Key Populations During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Background: Maintaining essential HIV services has being a Global challenge during the COVID-19 crises. Myanmar has 54 million inhabitants. Neighbor of China, Thailand, India and Bangladesh it was impacted by COVID-19, but came up with a comprehensive and effective response, following WHO recommendations. The HIV Prevalence is 0.58% and it is concentrated among key population. A HIV Contingency Plan was developed to face this challenge. Methodology: The programme-based cross-sectional descriptive study with analysis of routinely collected data from MoHS data system, between 2019 and 2020 was conducted, comparing first six months of 2019 and 2020. Results: HIV outreach activities and HIV testing were slightly affected after detection of first COVID-19 case, till mid May 2020. After that, outreach activities resumed. Introduction of HIV self-testing was initiated. 72% of more than 21,000 PWID on MMT were receiving take home dose up to 14 days and 60% of ART patients were receiving 6 months ARV dispensing. Conclusion: Essential HIV services were maintained.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to and utilisation of services for sexual and reproductive health: a scoping review

“…Studies were conducted in all seven major geographical (World Bank) regions of the world; 28% of the studies were done in North America,28–50 28% in sub-Saharan Africa,51–73 20% in Europe and Central Asia,74–90 8% in East Asia & Pacific,91–97 5% in Latin America and the Caribbean,98–101 2% in South Asia102 103 and 1% in the Middle East and North Africa 104. Studies were conducted in more than 34 countries.…”

“…displays the characteristics of included studies. There was a relatively even distribution of studies across SRH focus areas: 30 (36%) provided evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to or utilisation of contraceptive services,28 29 32 35 37 40 42 47 51–54 57 58 63 67 68 71 73 75 78 82 83 88 91 93 97 104 109 110 21 (25%) on abortion services,30 32–35 40 43 49–52 68 73 80 87 89 90 93 99 103 109 20 (24%) on GBV/IPV services28 31 36 38 39 45 46 48 74 76 77 81 84 86 98 101 102 105 107 109 and 33 (40%) on STI-related services 35 40 41 44 53 55–62 64–66 69–73 79 85 91–96 100 104 106 108 Figure 2. illustrates the distribution of studies among each of the four SRH service focus area by region and by study type.…”

“…Nearly half of included studies (40, 48%) found a decrease in access or utilisation of STIs/HIV services 35 40 41 44 53 55–62 64–66 69–73 79 85 91–96 100 104 106 108. STI testing reductions were reported in Uganda,53 the USA,35 Jordan,104 Thailand95 and Uganda 60.…”

Public knowledge, practices, and awareness of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance in Myanmar: The first national mobile phone panel survey

“…In terms of media, TV and Facebook should also be utilized to effectively disseminate the campaign’s messages [ 42 ]. Since the media played a critical role in enabling the people to have a greater chance of exposure to health and medical information during the COVID-19 pandemic [ 43 , 44 ], those media could be utilized effectively to improve the public’s knowledge and practices with respect to antibiotics.…”

HIV and COVID-19: review of clinical course and outcomes

“…185–187 Many countries have identified this imbalance in access to care both with HIV diagnosis and ongoing care and have provided at-home testing kits, distributed condoms with COVID-19 testing services, and mailed ART to ensure continuity of care. 188–193 …”