United Kingdom: Britain Pledges $36 Million to Fight AIDS, Malaria in Myanmar

Britain will provide $36 million to fight AIDS, malaria, and TB in Myanmar, the British Embassy in Yangon announced in a statement today. The amount is part of a joint $100 million program by donor nations fighting the diseases over the next five years in Myanmar, formerly Burma. More than 300,000 adults, or 1.3 percent of the population, had HIV in 2004, and 25,000 people are newly infected each year, the embassy said. Other donors include the European Union, Australia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. The joint program is meant to fill the financial gap left after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria withdrew from the country in August 2005, citing the ruling military junta's tight travel restrictions on aid workers. The British aid will be administered through international and local nongovernmental organizations, UN agencies, businesses, and public health officials, the embassy said.

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