In a small and peaceful clinic on the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, 20 volunteers tend to 300 HIV patients abandoned by a healthcare system allowed to crumble during decades of brutal military rule in Myanmar.
In a country where rulers long prioritized military spending over the needs of their people, these men, women and children have found a refuge thanks to the work of a member of Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party.
The center was set up in 2005 by Phyu Phyu Thin, now a parliamentarian with the National League for Democracy, the country’s main opposition force following landmark by-elections last year.
Two traditional wooden houses surround a courtyard which is home to both a kitchen and washing area due to lack of space.
Patients in advanced stages of the illness rest on wooden benches during the blistering heat, too weak to venture far during the day. Those who have the strength leave each morning to earn an income for their families.
In three rooms, including one reserved for women, each patient has a few square meters in which to keep personal belongings such as photos and souvenirs.
Three meals a day are served up by volunteers, some of whom are also infected with the virus.
At a morning medical session, patients receive intravenous infusions as part of treatment that includes pain relief drugs, antiretroviral therapy and medicine for tuberculosis.
Last year, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) said only one-third of the 120,000 people in need of antiretrovirals in Myanmar were getting the drugs, with up to 20,000 people dying each year due to a lack of treatment.
For the more physically able at the shelter — which mainly relies on local donors for funds — a small sewing workshop offers the chance to earn some money by selling small embroidered belts and other clothing accessories.
Women and children work side by side, enjoying some respite from the anxieties of their illness.
Away from the country’s dramatic political reforms and the international acclaim they have received, a few hundred men and women have found a refuge where they can live out the rest of their lives in dignity.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not