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Mizzima: Hush Hush Na Wa Ta Disease
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Hush Hush Na Wa Ta Disease
By Kanbawza Win, January 5, 2001
Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com)
The international community recognized this scourge as Human
Immunodeficiency Virus or HIV/AIDS but, in rural areas of Burma, the
local people call it Na Wa Ta disease. There are two reasons for this.
The first one is that during the Ne Win administration of Burmese
Socialist Programme Party days, Burma boasted about not having a single
AIDS patient in the country. True, because the country was a hermit
kingdom and its closed door policy had effectively shut out not only
AIDS but also trade and tourism not to mention foreign investment. But
when the Burmese army took power in 1988 under the name of Na Wa Ta (in
English it is known as State Law and Order Restoration Council now the
SPDC), killing some 20,000 people, it changed its policy to the Burmese
Army Way to Capitalism and opened up the country. HIV/AIDS was among the
first to come in. Most Generals are poorly educated to run a country.
Being bumpkins in health affairs, they obviously did not take any
necessary precautions, justifying their approach as part and parcel of
opening up the country. Now HIV/AIDS has reached an epidemic proportion.
The second reason is that General Ne Win, the great helmsman, has a
great appetite for sex, having five official wives (Daw Tin Tin,
Mrs.Taunggyi known as Daw Khin May Than, Daw Ni Ni Myint, Yadana Nat Mai
and back to Daw Ni Ni Myint, other unofficial
wives are not accounted for). He looks the other way when his soldiers
commit sexual offenses, especially in ethnic areas because the generals
construe this as implementing the Mahar Myanmar race policy. This is
tantamount to encouraging the soldiers to commit rape. As HIV/AIDS is
related to sex U Ne Win automatically became the father of AIDS in
addition to being the father of the Burmese army. Since Na Wa Ta is one
of his creations the people jokingly call AIDS the Na Wa Ta disease as
more than 10 percent of the soldiers (about 4,400,00) are infected.
AIDS is now orphaning children, wrecking the people?s lives in
unprecedented numbers and undoing what little development had being
achieved. HIV positive persons will die within a decade which is also
the fate of the impoverished average Burmese. Worst of all,
there is no cure. The rich will be condemned to a life preserving
cocktail of powerful drugs. In eastern and northern Burma, the AIDS
virus lurks and spreads everywhere. We are sure that the numbers
incubating HIV who will probably die of AIDS is far larger than what
Burmese army killed in 1988.
. The current military Junta has already broken the record of its
predecessor regime when the WHO ranked Burma as second last among the
191 nations in the quality of health care (Sierra Leone was last) while
the Burmese Socialist Programme Party only achieved the least developed
country status. The Generals often argue that the civilian figure of
over 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases estimated by the researchers of the World
Bank was just a political ploy to discredit the regime. The Junta claims
that only 40,000 were affected by Na Wa Ta disease.
Fanned by cheap heroine and the booming sex trade the AIDS crisis has
spun out of control. Exporting young girls to Thailand an action
indirectly encouraged by the government, and the returning prostitutes
from the neighboring countries have compounded the problem. Dr. Frank
Smithuis of M S F ( Medicins Sans Frontieres) who has spent six years
working on HIV/AIDS prevention in Burma cited the figure as between
200,000 to one million.
"It is hard to give a good estimates and is probably
higher than has been thought taking into consideration
for those who have died. It is high and is rising and
nobody is doing anything about it."
The Junta could not admit it for obvious reasons, instead rely on
conservative social mores. Their hypothesis is that extramarital sex is
rare while the cultural value of the girl is to preserve her virginity.
It also used to point out the absence of a sex industry, such as found
in Thailand and Philippines However it did not take into consideration
the economic factor where young girls have to sell their bodies just to
survive.
The new fear for the Burmese was worse than the Junta is AIDS. Huge
populations are at risk and Burma will soon top the list of Asian
countries in AIDS cases The invisible cases under reported in a climate
of denial that unsafe and promiscuous sex is rife. It appears that the
virus has passed out of the world of commercial sex to thrive among
pregnant women who have had sex only with their husbands. It will soon
paralyze the nation if this denial goes on.
Neighbouring countries have made attempts to address the issue of
treating and preventing HIV infection. Thailand is at the vanguard of
such action even though the efforts are sparse and the tools are often
crude. Cambodia is considered to have the highest infection rate at
about 4% of its adult population. Thailand is at about 2%. But they have
received millions of dollars to help fight the disease. However, in the
case of Burma, there are few donors who are willing to extend a hand to
a regime which has such a horridus records of human rights violations.
China and Pakistan are friendly to the Junta but tend to help the
Burmese military but only with guns and bullets, not with pills to fight
this dreaded disease.
A drug use epidemic followed a huge increase in heroin supply in 1988
when the democracy movement was gun down. In order to divert the youth
from political activism, the Burmese army indirectly encouraged the use
of narcotic drug heroin and addiction to it increased dramatically. A
unique Burmese culture of sharing needles in the tea stall has also
contributed to the spread of AIDS.
The denial by the Junta deepens the AIDS epidemic. The Junta?s figures
(which have not been made public but made available to the scientists
abroad) show that the infection rate among Burmese prostitutes has
soared to the levels of Africa. The rises in.
Rangoon and Mandalay average 47%, that is three times the rate in
Thailand. AIDS has been rapidly increasing, especially among the teen
age girls, because of increased poverty and the military program of
forced relocation. In fact it has reached a catastrophe stage while the
Junta endeavours to regard it as a "hush hush" disease. However, in a
closed door meeting of the generals they admitted that the problem
existed and very lately has started to import condoms. It was even
rumored that the old man U Ne Win, who will be on the wrong side of 90
this May 24th, promised that Daw Ni Ni Myint would be his last wife.
Perhaps he has some respect for this former history tutor as she heads
the historical commission and he does not want to go down in history as
a rogue.
Prominent medical doctors in Burma have to tell the world what the Junta
want them to say but in private they admit the hopelessness of the
situation. Counseling is virtually nonexistent; condoms, which were
banned by the Generals until 1993, are prohibitively far expensive for
most people. Free AIDS testing is rare, and most people cannot afford
the $10 (nearly Kyats 5,000) test to determine if they have this Na Wa
Ta disease. Once a patient is diagnosed, the doctors said, he or she
dies within three months. There are virtually no anti HIV drugs in the
country. Besides there is an acute shortage of antibiotics.
The virus is also spreading in jails where a prisoner can obtain a
little extra food for a blood donation and where transfusion equipment
is often reused without cleaning. Far worse the disease is spreading to
the monasteries. Many infected young men, shunned by their friends and
family have moved into the monasteries to die. Several of the monks are
also infected by AIDS. They have contracted the disease by shaving the
heads with the razors shared among them.
A combination of ravaging Na Wa Ta disease, an atrocious health-care
system and the Junta?s refusal to admit these medical problems has
condemned the Burmese to a life- expectancy of less than 45 years for
the next two decades or so. It seems that even if the Burmese military
Junta goes its partner AIDS or Na Wa Ta disease will continue to stay in
the country for quite some time.
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<br><b><font size=+2>Hush Hush Na Wa Ta Disease</font></b>
<p>By <b>Kanbawza Win,</b> January 5, 2001
<br>Mizzima News Group (<a href="http://www.mizzima.com";>www.mizzima.com</a>)
<p>The international community recognized this scourge as Human Immunodeficiency
Virus or HIV/AIDS but, in rural areas of Burma, the local people call it
<b>Na
Wa Ta </b>disease. There are two reasons for this. The first one is that
during the Ne Win administration of <b>Burmese Socialist Programme Party</b>
days, Burma boasted about not having a single AIDS patient in the country.
True, because the country was a hermit kingdom and its closed door policy
had effectively shut out not only AIDS but also trade and tourism not to
mention foreign investment. But when the Burmese army took power in 1988
under the name of <b>Na Wa Ta</b> (in English it is known as State Law
and Order Restoration Council now the SPDC), killing some 20,000 people,
it changed its policy to the <b>Burmese Army Way to Capitalism</b> and
opened up the country. HIV/AIDS was among the first to come in. Most Generals
are poorly educated to run a country. Being bumpkins in health affairs,
they obviously did not take any necessary precautions, justifying their
approach as part and parcel of opening up the country. Now HIV/AIDS has
reached an epidemic proportion.
<p>The second reason is that General Ne Win, the great helmsman, has a
great appetite for sex, having five official wives (Daw Tin Tin, Mrs.Taunggyi
known as Daw Khin May Than, Daw Ni Ni Myint, Yadana Nat Mai and back to
Daw Ni Ni Myint, other unofficial
<br>wives are not accounted for). He looks the other way when his soldiers
commit sexual offenses, especially in ethnic areas because the generals
construe this as implementing the Mahar Myanmar race policy. This is tantamount
to encouraging the soldiers to commit rape. As HIV/AIDS is related to sex
U Ne Win automatically became the father of AIDS in addition to being the
father of the Burmese army. Since <b>Na Wa Ta</b> is one of his creations
the people jokingly call AIDS the <b>Na Wa Ta</b> disease as more than
10 percent of the soldiers (about 4,400,00) are infected.
<p>AIDS is now orphaning children, wrecking the people?s lives in unprecedented
numbers and undoing what little development had being achieved. HIV positive
persons will die within a decade which is also the fate of the impoverished
average Burmese. Worst of all,
<br>there is no cure. The rich will be condemned to a life preserving cocktail
of powerful drugs. In eastern and northern Burma, the AIDS virus lurks
and spreads everywhere. We are sure that the numbers incubating HIV who
will probably die of AIDS is far larger than what Burmese army killed in
1988.
<p>. The current military Junta has already broken the record of its predecessor
regime when the WHO ranked Burma as second last among the 191 nations in
the quality of health care (Sierra Leone was last) while the <i>Burmese
Socialist Programme Party</i> only achieved the least developed country
status. The Generals often argue that the civilian figure of over 700,000
HIV/AIDS cases estimated by the researchers of the World Bank was just
a political ploy to discredit the regime. The Junta claims that only 40,000
were affected by <b>Na Wa Ta</b> disease.
<p>Fanned by cheap heroine and the booming sex trade the AIDS crisis has
spun out of control. Exporting young girls to Thailand an action indirectly
encouraged by the government, and the returning prostitutes from the neighboring
countries have compounded the problem. Dr. Frank Smithuis of M S F ( Medicins
Sans Frontieres) who has spent six years working on HIV/AIDS prevention
in Burma cited the figure as between 200,000 to one million.
<p> <i>"It is hard
to give a good estimates and is probably</i>
<br><i> higher than
has been thought taking into consideration</i>
<br><i> for those
who have died. It is high and is rising and</i>
<br><i> nobody is
doing anything about it."</i>
<p>The Junta could not admit it for obvious reasons, instead rely on conservative
social mores. Their hypothesis is that extramarital sex is rare while the
cultural value of the girl is to preserve her virginity. It also used to
point out the absence of a sex industry, such as found in Thailand and
Philippines However it did not take into consideration the economic factor
where young girls have to sell their bodies just to survive.
<p>The new fear for the Burmese was worse than the Junta is AIDS. Huge
populations are at risk and Burma will soon top the list of Asian countries
in AIDS cases The invisible cases under reported in a climate of denial
that unsafe and promiscuous sex is rife. It appears that the virus has
passed out of the world of commercial sex to thrive among pregnant women
who have had sex only with their husbands. It will soon paralyze the nation
if this denial goes on.
<p>Neighbouring countries have made attempts to address the issue of treating
and preventing HIV infection. Thailand is at the vanguard of such action
even though the efforts are sparse and the tools are often crude. Cambodia
is considered to have the highest infection rate at about 4% of its adult
population. Thailand is at about 2%. But they have received millions of
dollars to help fight the disease. However, in the case of Burma, there
are few donors who are willing to extend a hand to a regime which has such
a horridus records of human rights violations. China and Pakistan are friendly
to the Junta but tend to help the Burmese military but only with guns and
bullets, not with pills to fight this dreaded disease.
<p>A drug use epidemic followed a huge increase in heroin supply in 1988
when the democracy movement was gun down. In order to divert the youth
from political activism, the Burmese army indirectly encouraged the use
of narcotic drug heroin and addiction to it increased dramatically. A unique
Burmese culture of sharing needles in the tea stall has also contributed
to the spread of AIDS.
<p>The denial by the Junta deepens the AIDS epidemic. The Junta?s figures
(which have not been made public but made available to the scientists abroad)
show that the infection rate among Burmese prostitutes has soared to the
levels of Africa. The rises in.
<p>Rangoon and Mandalay average 47%, that is three times the rate in Thailand.
AIDS has been rapidly increasing, especially among the teen age girls,
because of increased poverty and the military program of forced relocation.
In fact it has reached a catastrophe stage while the Junta endeavours to
regard it as a "<b>hush hush</b>" disease. However, in a closed door meeting
of the generals they admitted that the problem existed and very lately
has started to import condoms. It was even rumored that the old man U Ne
Win, who will be on the wrong side of 90 this May 24th, promised that Daw
Ni Ni Myint would be his last wife. Perhaps he has some respect for this
former history tutor as she heads the historical commission and he does
not want to go down in history as a rogue.
<p>Prominent medical doctors in Burma have to tell the world what the Junta
want them to say but in private they admit the hopelessness of the situation.
Counseling is virtually nonexistent; condoms, which were banned by the
Generals until 1993, are prohibitively far expensive for most people. Free
AIDS testing is rare, and most people cannot afford the $10 (nearly Kyats
5,000) test to determine if they have this <b>Na Wa Ta </b>disease. Once
a patient is diagnosed, the doctors said, he or she dies within three months.
There are virtually no anti HIV drugs in the country. Besides there is
an acute shortage of antibiotics.
<p>The virus is also spreading in jails where a prisoner can obtain a little
extra food for a blood donation and where transfusion equipment is often
reused without cleaning. Far worse the disease is spreading to the monasteries.
Many infected young men, shunned by their friends and family have moved
into the monasteries to die. Several of the monks are also infected by
AIDS. They have contracted the disease by shaving the heads with the razors
shared among them.
<p>A combination of ravaging <b>Na Wa Ta</b> disease, an atrocious health-care
system and the Junta?s refusal to admit these medical problems has condemned
the Burmese to a life- expectancy of less than 45 years for the next two
decades or so. It seems that even if the Burmese military Junta goes its
partner AIDS or <b>Na Wa Ta </b>disease will continue to stay in the country
for quite some time.
<br>
<br>
<p> </html>
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