What does MAM do?

Many of the poorest people in Myanmar cannot afford the health services they need. To tackle the urgent medical needs, we want to support a network of clinics where a package of basic health activities are provided. The aim is to work on a large scale in order to be most (cost-) effective. Activities will focus on medical treatment, but this will be combined with preventive activities if appropriate, depending on the epidemiology of the specific disease. For example, in case of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV, treatment is a very effective way to prevent the spread of the disease. For HIV however, it is sometimes easier to try to prevent it altogether, before infection appears. Therefore, next to treating people with HIV, we will have preventative activities, like condom distribution, treatment of sexually transmitted diseases and needle exchanges for drug users. And most important, we will treat HIV+ pregnant women in order to prevent the spread of HIV to their unborn babies. For the poorest people, all medical services will be free. But for people with some, but insufficient financial means, some medical services will be made accessible with subsidized services. This will encourage personal responsibility and will also free up money for additional patients.