About 2,000 IDPs in Ponnagyun Twsp suffering from skin disease

By Admin 07 Dec 2024

DMG Newsroom
7 December 2024, Ponnagyun

Many displaced people in Ponnagyun Township, Arakan State, have been suffering from a skin disease outbreak that began almost a year ago, and say they cannot afford to treat it properly.

The displaced civilians are from Ponnagyun, Sittwe and Rathedaung townships, and the skin disease that has been spreading since early 2024 has not yet been brought under control.

“Skin diseases are like infectious diseases, they spread one after another. Most people who are infected with skin diseases never recover completely. People with skin diseases get better for a while if they apply medicine, but if they don’t apply medicine, they come back. IDPs have been suffering from skin diseases for about a year,” said Ko Kyaw Win Tun, an IDP at a displacement shelter in Ponnagyun Township’s Taungnar Village.

Many IDPs living near villages along the Asia Highway, such as Pan Nilar, Aungphyupyin, Yoetayoke, Ganantaung and Myethle in Ponnagyun Township, are suffering from skin diseases, and according to statistics collected by the Ponnagyun Youths Association, there are about 2,000 IDPs currently suffering from the disease.

IDPs say that skin diseases affect both adults and children, and they are treated only with traditional medicine due to lack of money.

“IDPs struggle to survive and cannot afford to go to the clinic. The itch on my chest has been there for about five months but it has not gone away. I don’t know if it is because of the weather or if I have a skin disease,” said U Thein Tun Oo, an IDP from a displacement camp near Thedaw Village.

DMG’s fieldwork found that many displaced people in Ponnagyun Township are facing water scarcity and are forced to rely on muddy ponds for their water needs.

The number of IDPs in Ponnagyun Township has increased to more than 10,000, and most are in need of warm clothes and blankets as well as other food and shelter assistance during the winter.