24,500 HIV-AIDS patients in Myanmar lack anti-retroviral drugs Tuesday June 7, 1:47 PM Report: 24,500 HIV-AIDS patients in Myanmar lack anti-retroviral drugs YANGONm Myanmar (AP) - Thousands of HIV-AIDS patients in military-ruled Myanmar lack access to life-prolonging anti-retroviral drugs because of a funding shortage, a U.N. representative was quoted as saying Tuesday. Myanmar's health department can provide the drugs to only about 500 of the 25,000 victims infected with the AIDS virus who need them, the Flower News journal reported. "The World Health Organization and other (agencies) have been providing assistance for the treatment, but it is not sufficient and more funding is needed," said Dr. Sit Naing, a local representative of the United Nations' AIDS agency. The average monthly cost of the drugs was about 30,000 kyats (US$30; €23) per patient. The report did not specify how much additional funding was needed to treat patients in need. Myanmar's military government says more than 300,000 of the country's 54 million people have HIV-AIDS, but health experts believe the actual figure is higher. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's World Factbook estimates that Myanmar's population is significantly lower _ about 43 million _ mainly because of mortality caused by AIDS. UNAIDS, the U.N. body coordinating the fight against the disease, estimates that more than 600,000 people in Myanmar, aged 15 to 49, are infected with HIV. The Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has pledged US$19.2 million (€15.7 million) to combat HIV-AIDS in Myanmar out of a total package of US$35.6 million (€27.59) for the country. ~