Over 12 million lack access to primary healthcare services in Myanmar

By Admin 23 Dec 2023

DMG Newsroom
23 December 2023, Sittwe

UNICEF Myanmar said 12.1 million people in Myanmar are in need of primary healthcare services as the health system continues to grapple with multiple challenges.

One million Myanmar children who missed basic immunisations in recent years are facing elevated risks of vaccine-preventable diseases, said the UN health agency.

Myanmar has been plagued by internal conflict amid a concerted armed resistance to the military regime since its 2021 coup. Clashes have taken place daily in northern Shan State, Arakan, Kachin, Chin, Kayin, Karenni (Kayah) and Mon states, as well as Sagaing, Bago, Magwe, and Tanintharyi regions since Operation 1027 was launched against the regime in late October.

The fighting has resulted in the mass displacement of civilians, making it difficult for them to receive primary healthcare services.

“Poor healthcare services are a result of regional instability. What’s worse, the military council has imposed travel restrictions on delivery of pharmaceuticals,” said a social activist from Sittwe town.

A November report of the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) says more than 200,000 people had been displaced since the launch of Operation 1027, and more than 2 million people have been displaced since the coup.

The total number of displaced people stands at around 200,000 in Arakan State, according to local civil society organisations.

“It is the cold season now, and people are a bit under the weather. But we can hardly buy medicines for the common cold,” said a displaced woman from Pauktaw Township.

A 17-year-old male from Pauktaw town temporarily taking shelter at a village in rural Pauktaw died on December 14 after he fell ill and could not receive proper medical treatment, according to family members.

On December 5, a 35-year-old woman from Nga Tauk Tu Che Village in Rathedaung Township who was taking shelter at Doe Tan Village in Ponnagyun Township died in labour. Her baby also did not survive.

At least 10 displaced people lost their lives in Kyauktaw, Pauktaw, Rathedaung and Maungdaw townships since November 13 as they could not access healthcare services due to the junta’s travel restrictions, DMG has learnt.

Kanni Wignaraja, the director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific at the United Nations Development Programme, in an interview with the Washington, DC-based National Journal on Friday warned of grinding poverty and a collapsed economy in Myanmar. She called for political solutions to solve Myanmar’s economic crisis.