In 2007, an estimated 240,000 people were living with HIV in Myanmar, with the national prevalence rate at 0.7% that year. Myanmar's eastern provinces remain the most affected by HIV.

Recent national responses to the epidemic have led to a decline in HIV infection rates among pregnant women (prevalence rate of 1.8% in 2004, down from 2.2% in 2000), but infection rates among other groups, including female sex workers (FSWs) and injecting drug users (IDUs), are still high and rising.

In 2003, HIV infection rates among IDUs tested ranged from 50% to 85% in Yangon and Mandalay. From 1992 to 2003, HIV infection rates among sex workers rose to 31% from 5%.

In 2004, one in four FSWs were infected with HIV as were one in three IDUs. AIDS-related deaths were estimated at 24,000 in 2007.

According to latest estimates, primary modes of transmission are heterosexual contact (65%), injecting drug use (26%) and contaminated blood (5%). Treatment, care and support services still fall short of needs, with less than 10% of AIDS patients receiving ARV treatment.

The high incidence of unsafe injecting drug use and unprotected sex along well estab-lished internal migratory routes has contributed to the HIV epidemic's expansion in Myanmar.