At a glance
CDC established a country office in Burma in 2015. CDC Burma supports the national HIV and tuberculosis (TB) programs through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), builds capacity for surveillance and laboratory systems, and develops innovative strategies to sustain responses to HIV, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, vaccine-preventable diseases, and most recently COVID-19.
Overview
CDC established an office in Burma in 2015. CDC Burma works closely with partner organizations to address the following public health areas:
- HIV
- TB
- Malaria
- Workforce development
- Immunizations
HIV and TB
Strategic focus
CDC supports the national HIV and TB programs through the PEPFAR. CDC works with partners to build a sustainable, effective and country-owned HIV response that accelerates progress toward UNAIDS targets to control the HIV epidemic. CDC also addresses TB, as this is the leading cause of death among people living with HIV.
CDC activities include:
- Partnering with multilateral, non-governmental and governmental entities such as the National AIDS Program, the National Health Laboratory, UNAIDS and World Health Organization country offices.
- Supporting the development of innovative strategies and operationalization of HIV prevention and treatment guidelines.
- Strengthening systems for monitoring and improving the quality of HIV clinical care, surveillance, and laboratory services.
- Supporting a health-systems strengthening approach to address drug-resistant TB.
Key achievements
- Provide technical support to develop the HIV Testing Guidelines. This incorporates modalities of index testing, self-testing, and peer-led community-based screening in previously unreached KP communities.
- Support updates to the HIV Treatment Guidelines, including full implementation of Test and Start.
- Work with partners to strengthen HIV diagnostics and viral load testing quality management systems, and national scale-up.
- Developed 2023 National HIV estimates using AIDS Epidemic Model followed by Spectrum Modelling. These estimates are used in advocacy, planning meetings for national HIV responses and funding proposals.
- Supported the "Undetectable=Untransmittable" awareness social media campaign through partners. The campaign addresses routine viral load testing, retention on treatment, and reduction of stigma.
Malaria
Strategic focus
CDC assigned a malaria advisor to the interagency President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) team in 2020. As co-implementer PMI alongside United States Agency for International Development, CDC works with the National Malaria Control Program to provide technical input in:
- Vector control efforts (e.g., insecticide-treated nets)
- Diagnosis and treatment
- Surveillance
- Outbreak investigation
Key accomplishments
CDC's support through PMI has helped deliver:
- More than 3.5 million mosquito nets
- Nearly 3 million rapid diagnostic tests
- Over 249,000 doses of fast-acting malaria medicine
Global health security
Workforce development
CDC strengthens Burma's ability to investigate and respond to disease outbreaks through the establishment of the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP). Burma's FETP program is the cornerstone of a planned national public health institute. Through FETP, CDC strengthens Burma's workforce capacity to identify and stop outbreaks before they spread.
Immunizations
Strategic focus
CDC provides continued capacity-building support in immunizations surveillance. This includes planning and monitoring of the national COVID-19 vaccination campaign. The work also focuses on recovering immunization services that were significantly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. CDC added an immunizations advisor to the country office in 2021.
