07 August 2018
Myanmar has made significant progress in its efforts to tackle HIV, tuberculosis and malaria. The number of patients on antiretroviral treatment has increased by a factor of 3.7 in less than 8 years, HIV diagnosis among pregnant women is near universal and malaria cases declined by 64% between 2014 and 2017. TB treatment success rate is high at 87%. This programmatic success has been paired with increased financial commitments from the government to fight the three diseases and to widen health care coverage.
However, with this rapid expansion of services, concerns have increased about how best to plan for sustainability, optimize resources, and bridge gaps in service quality. Plans to transition HIV treatment services to government do not yet address critical components on supply chain and human resource requirements. Key populations, such as people who inject drugs, are still not yet effectively reached with services. Moreover, service delivery options and supply chain arrangements are siloed within the three disease programs and across implementers. This limits opportunities to leverage resources such as community health workers and to provide integrated services at health facilities. Finally, there are limitations in assurance and oversight by the Principal Recipients, Country Coordinating Mechanism and Local Fund Agent.