Confined Nobel Laureate: Aid Needed

Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner held under house arrest by Myanmar's junta, meets friends and family in May. Suu Kyi has been kept in near-solitary confinement at her home, and is generally not allowed outside visitors or telephone contact. (David Longstreath - AP)

YANGON, Myanmar -- Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained Nobel Peace Prize winner, told a U.N. official during a brief and rare meeting Saturday that she was in "good health" but needed more regular medical attention, a U.N. statement said.

Suu Kyi made the comments to U.N. Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari during an hour-long meeting at the diplomat's government guesthouse.

"Aung San Suu Kyi conveyed to Gambari that she is in good health but requires more regular medical visits," said the statement issued by the U.N.'s office in Yangon. The 61-year-old political prisoner has spent 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly under house arrest.