Global Fund to leave Myanmar

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria says it will stop funding programmes in Myanmar, due to increased travel restrictions.

A spokeswomen for the organization said that aid workers were unable to carry out their work properly in the country.

It is the first time the Geneva-based organization has withdrawn from a country in which it is operating.

It said its decision was regrettable, given the serious epidemics threatening the impoverished Myanmar population.

According to UNAIDS, an estimated 600,000 people in Myanmar have HIV or AIDS, and the country is thought to have one of the highest rates of tuberculosis in the world.

(Source: BBC News, 22 August)