Charitable foundation to provide food, medicine to people with disabilities in two Arakan State townships

By DMG 04 Nov 2021

DMG Newsroom
4 November 2021, Sittwe

The Shwe Min Thar Foundation will provide for people with disabilities in Arakan State’s Sittwe and Ponnagyun townships with food and medicines for four months.

With the help of the German health philanthropy DAHW, the foundation will soon deliver the material donation, said Ma Htwe May, manager of the foundation in Arakan State.

“We are now collecting a list of persons with disabilities in the two townships. The donation will be next week,” she told DMG.

Rice, edible oil, beans, salt, potatoes, eggs, dried fish and medicines including a batch of Covid-19 vaccines will reportedly be provided.

“It is good when the foundation donates for people with disabilities because all are facing livelihood difficulties due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” said someone with a disability in the Arakan State capital Sittwe.

The donation will provide for 620 households from the two townships, and will include a bag of rice, one viss of edible oil, one viss of potatoes, 20 eggs, one viss of beans, 50 ticals of dried fish and medicines, according to the Shwe Min Thar Foundation.

According to the 2014 census, about 4.6% of Myanmar’s population have some form of disability. There are more than 200,000 people with disabilities in Arakan State, according to the census.

The number of people with disabilities in Arakan State has increased due to the effects — from landmines to artillery shellings to friendly-fire incidents — of two years of fighting between the Myanmar military and Arakan Army from 2018-20, say people who are providing help for the disabled.