Around 28,000 people receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Kachin State are facing shortages of their medication due to difficulties transporting medical supplies, according to an employee working at the state’s National AIDS Programme (NAP).

The employee said the shortages were caused by difficulties encountered by the central ART medicine warehouse in delivering medications to Kachin State.

“Since the roads are not accessible, we have had to rely on air transport. As flights have also become difficult because we have to depend on a single route, we can no longer distribute medicines as we did before. Previously, we could provide a three-month supply to each person. Now, we are having to distribute supplies based on what is available—sometimes for three days, seven days or around 10 days,” the employee said.

“This has created difficulties for people who live far from clinics. Some ART clinics in townships where transportation is particularly difficult have closed. As a result, some patients are unable to travel to the clinics to receive their medication,” the employee added.

An ART patient from upper Sagaing Region said, “It is difficult to collect the medicine in the Mohnyin area, so I have to travel to Mandalay. It is not convenient because it is far away.”

Around 10,000 people in Myitkyina Township, Kachin State, are currently receiving ART medication. Although the medicine can be ordered from outside sources with difficulty, a one-month supply reportedly costs around K150,000 per bottle on the market.

According to information released by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2022, around 280,000 people in Myanmar were estimated to be living with HIV.