KPSC: breaking the chain of HIV transmission 25.07.2019

Dr Thein Htike, Pyi Gyi Khin centre officer, Aung Lan Township

HIV testing lets people know their status, but all people who test HIV-positive must have access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). In Myanmar, supported by the Global Fund, Key Population Service Centres are playing a significant role by helping people with HIV get onto ART.

Dr Thein Htike is Pyi Gyi Khin centre officer in Aung Lan Township. “I have always been interested in public health field activities, going into communities.” In his student years, Dr Thein Htike and his friends were not very familiar in working with HIV patients.

But that has changed. “I now understand their lives better, what they have gone through, and how they got the infection.” His work as the Pyi Gyi Khin centre officer, with the knowledge, and experience he has gained providing care, support and treatment for people living with HIV, has greatly improved his clinical skills and he is highly confident. He would like to help them be integrated as productive and equal members of society.

Pyi Gyi Khin has been implementing its HIV prevention services with key populations such as sex workers, MSM and people living with HIV, and community home-based care and ART provision with the support of Global Fund since 2011.

One of the project’s activities is reaching key affected populations with a package of prevention services, promoting HIV testing and providing referral for treatment.

Dr Thein Htike is also seeing heterosexual people getting HIV, due to inadequate knowledge, misconceptions, and perceiving themselves less susceptible to HIV, influencing their attitude to condom use.

"It is important to remember that it’s not only key populations that are at risk of HIV, which is why education and condom promotion are important to prevent HIV,” reminds Dr Thein Htike, raising the importance of public education and awareness on HIV/AIDS.

Knowledge and experience are needed to end misconceptions about HIV and discrimination. Dr Thein Htike shares his experience and knowledge with colleagues, especially new team members who have not yet had as much experience, to increase their understanding of people living with HIV, and so that the Aung Lan KPSC team can provide better, more efficient service for all patients.

KPSCs play an essential role in ending the AIDS epidemic, “Getting a person who tests HIV-positive onto ART means he/she can achieve undetectable viral load, remove any risk of transmission, and so he/she can get on with his/her life,” reflects Dr Thein Htike upon seeing the KPSCs bringing better and better results everyday―improved quality of life for people living with HIV and breaking the chain of HIV transmission in their communities and further―towards achieving the global 90–90–90 targets and ending the HIV epidemic.