Myanmar’s HIV epidemic is highly concentrated among people who inject drugs, sex workers, men who have sex with men, and the sexual clients of these populations. People who inject drugs exhibited the highest HIV prevalence (21.9 percent) in the most recent serosurveillance, meanwhile MSM exhibited the second highest (7.8percent). There is growing concern of a large-scale HIVepidemic among MSM amidst mounting evidence of it previously being underestimated.
One of the primary reasons for delayed progress in thenational response to HIV risk among MSM is a highly restrictive legal environment. Sex between men in Myanmar is punishable by a prison sentence of up to 10 years. Although such laws are rarely enforced, they complicate the delivery of effective HIV prevention services to the extent that they prevent community-based organizations (CBOs) from being registered with the state and discourage programme beneficiaries from accessing basic HIV services.
