Drugs, AIDS, and PLA in Myanmar/Burma

This paper explores the use of Participatory Learning and Action (PLA) amongst drug users in northern Myanmar/Burma. This is an extremely disabling environment in which there is little capacity to develop a multifaceted approach. The prevailing intervention paradigms are summarised as: demand reduction, supply reduction, harm reduction, drug user treatment, and a new paradigm of participatory development. The paper finds that there has been insufficient validation of the use of PLA methods amongst extremely socially excluded groups, but that the approach can enable participants to look realistically at their environmental limitations.