MANDALAY, Myanmar (UCAN) -- The destruction wrought by Cyclone Nargis is dominating headlines, but the local Catholic Church recognizes the growing number of cases of HIV and AIDS as a creeping health threat.

"We need to tackle this like the Church is tackling the cyclone-relief effort," Hla Thaung, leader of the pastoral council of St. Michael Parish in Mandalay, said at a May 30 meeting on the situation in Mandalay archdiocese.

Hla Thaung was one of 15 lay leaders, five youth leaders and four parish priests of the archdiocese who met to discuss the threat of HIV and AIDS in central Myanmar. The archdiocese's social-service organization, Karuna Mandalay, and Health Commission organized the meeting after a preparatory gathering of clergy on the subject in July 2007.

Nargis flattened and flooded coastal Myanmar from the Irrawaddy River delta up to Yangon May 2-3, but did not reach Mandalay, 580 kilometers north of the former capital.

"The Church's relief committee is cooperating with different dioceses to help the cyclone victims," said Thaung, citing it as a "good example" for local Catholics. "If we can cooperate like this on our health-education and support program for AIDS within the archdiocese, it would be good."

The threat is not as pressing as assisting cyclone survivors, but participants agreed that not enough is being done to prevent the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) or to care for those infected with it.

HIV, most commonly transmitted through sex with an infected person, contaminated needles, breast milk or from an infected pregnant mother to her unborn child, leads to AIDS.

UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS estimated in a 2005 report that roughly 360,000 people in Myanmar were HIV-positive.

Doctor John Khin Maung Pyone, chairman of the archdiocese's Laity Commission, told the meeting the number people living with HIV in the archdiocesan area is growing. Most are in the city, but some come from Catholic villages, he said, expressing particular concern about the virus spreading among teenagers.

He said more needs to be done to offer sympathy and help to people who are HIV-positive or who already have developed AIDS.

Echoing lay leader Thaung's view, he said concerned people should work closely with the Mandalay archdiocese commissions to tackle the problem.

Doctor Maggie Cho Lay Mar, chairperson of the Catholic bishops' National Family Commission, spoke about their prevention program and help for people with HIV and AIDS.

The prevention measures take into account Catholic Church teachings. These include calls for sexual relations only with one's spouse. They advise care with blood transfusions and hypodermic needles, and avoidance of illegal drug use.

Lay Mar said volunteers bring HIV patients to the Church-run St. Xavier Clinic. Although the clinic cannot afford expensive anti-viral medicines, it can help with nutritional supplements and vitamins. During her voluntary service in the evenings at the clinic with Maung Pyone, she said she had seen a marked improvement in the patients.

Pamphlets titled "What is HIV and how HIV infection can be prevented," "Understanding and living with HIV and AIDS" and "Self Care for PLWA" (People Living with AIDS) were distributed at the meeting. The clinic also distributes them.

Often HIV remains a hidden threat. "Some HIV patients feel ashamed and afraid that people will know about their real situation," Lay Mar told the meeting, adding that they hold group counseling to help with this.

Speaking with UCA News on June 2 at the clinic, she said, "We need to give health education within our diocese, because some Catholic laypeople are not aware of HIV and AIDS."

Some families lock up family members with HIV. "Some families keep the HIV patient separate from the other family members," she said. But after they have been educated about HIV, "they understand and look after the patient as their family member like before."

The doctor stressed that people with HIV need sympathy and understanding.

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