Myanmar

Eight months after deadly communal clashes broke out in Myanmar's Rakhine state, tens of thousands of people are still unable to access urgently needed medical care.

Eight months since deadly communal clashes first broke out in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, tens of thousands of people are still unable to access urgently needed medical care.

Ethnic tensions and threats are preventing MSF from providing care to many people in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

MSF teams in Rakhine State are unable to provide care to many people in need due to ongoing ethnic tensions and threats against MSF staff.

Violence and deep communal divisions in Rakhine State are preventing people from receiving emergency medical treatment.

Tens of thousands of people living with HIV and tuberculosis  in Myanmar are unable to access lifesaving antiretroviral therapy, a dire situation exacerbated by the recent cancellation of a new round of funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria.

A new MSF report warns that cancellation of global fund grants will have devastating effect in Myanmar.

While international attention focuses on Myanmar, a health crisis in the country looms large. An estimated 85,000 people infected with HIV in Myanmar are not receiving lifesaving treatment. 

Dr. Calorine Mekiedje, MSF medical advisor at the Dawei clinic in the south of Myanmar, talks about treating HIV/AIDS in a country where much about the disease remains unknown and is not discussed.

An MSF outreach counselor in southern Myanmar travels village to village as part of the effort to treat HIV/AIDS and HIV-TB co-infection in the country.

More than two weeks after Cyclone Giri struck Myanmar, the emergency response is insufficient to meet people's needs.

Rohingya women wait inside an MSF clinic in a makeshift refugee camp in Kutupalong, in southern Bangladesh, where thousands of stateless Rohingya have come in search of medical assistance and support.

Stateless Rohingya people in Bangladesh are currently victims to unprecedented levels of violence and attempts at forced repatriation.

During the rainy season, which would coincide with the hunger gap—the time just before the next harvest when food stocks dwindle—we would treat more than 1,200 severely and moderately malnourished children every week. Because of this great need, we refused to allow anything to interfere with our activities.

Torrential rains caused a major landslide and subsequent flooding in Hpakant, a mining area in northern Kachin State, Myanmar, on July 4. Officials say 24 people are dead, but figures remain unclear.

Laila is one of 25,000 unregistered Rohingya refugees in the area who have sought a safe place to live on the outskirts of the state-endorsed refugee camp supported by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Unlike their approximately 10,000 registered counterparts, the unregistered refugees in Kutupalong struggle to survive day to day, living in squalid conditions, vulnerable to ill health and exploitation.

MSF was recently alerted to a growing health crisis in the Kutupalong area of Bangladesh, where thousands of Rohingya—a Muslim ethnic minority originating from northern Rakhine state in Myanmar—are struggling to survive unassisted in a makeshift camp.

On May 2 last year, Nargis Cyclone destroyed everything in its path in the south of Myanmar. It left behind 140,000 dead and missing, as well as immense damage. To help those who survived cope with their grief and suffering, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have been providing mental health support to populations in the Irrawaddy delta for the past 10 months.

Weak, dehydrated, and traumatized, the Rohingya people who arrive on Thailand’s shores, after crossing the Andaman Sea from western Myanmar, come with alarming stories.

On May 2, 2008, Cyclone Nargis, in all its horror, threw Myanmar back into the international spotlight, devastating the Irrawaddy Delta and leaving an estimated 130,000 people missing or dead. Governed by a military regime since 1962 and enduring low-intensity conflict in certain areas, the disaster was the latest blow to a people largely forgotten by the outside world.

Massive forced civilian displacements, violence, and unmet medical needs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Iraq, Sudan, and Pakistan, along with neglected medical emergencies in Myanmar and Zimbabwe, are some of the worst humanitarian and medical emergencies in the world, the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) reported today in its annual list of the “Top Ten” humanitarian crises.

Some of the world’s leading photojournalists worked alongside our medical teams throughout 2008, documenting our work and following the lives of our patients and their communities. At the same time, some of our own staff captured unforgettable moments that we are pleased to include in this Year in Pictures issue of Alert, which brings together some of the most moving and telling photographs of the crises to which we responded in 2008.

Thousands of people are needlessly dying due to a severe lack of lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment in Myanmar. Unable to continue shouldering the primary responsibility for responding to one of Asia’s worst HIV crises, MSF insists that the government of Myanmar and international organizations urgently and rapidly scale-up the provision of antiretroviral therapy.

Geneva, Amsterdam, Yangon, November 25, 2008—Thousands of people are needlessly dying due to a severe lack of lifesaving HIV/AIDS treatment in Myanmar, said the international medical humanitarian organization MSF in a report released today. Unable to continue shouldering the primary responsibility for responding to one of Asia’s worst HIV crises, MSF insists that the government of Myanmar and international organizations urgently and rapidly scale-up the provision of antiretroviral therapy (ART).

MSF continues to assist about 460,000 people in the Irrawaddy Delta. A total of 450 staff are working in Labutta, Ngapudaw, Bogaley, Setsu, and Pyapon areas. MSF has provided more than 66,000 medical consultations by end of July.

MSF was among the first organizations to provide large-scale assistance to victims of Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar and devastated the Irrawaddy Delta on May 3.

More than two months after Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on May 2, devastating entire communities and destroying thousands of lives, the needs facing survivors remain critical.

The need for clean water, food, shelter and medical assistance remain critical in the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar. More than one month later, MSF continues to come across people who have received no assistance. While the necessity of an immediate increase in emergency aid remains paramount, another issue has become increasingly apparent in the populations whom MSF assists—a significant level of psycho-social trauma.

MSF was among the first organizations to provide large-scale assistance to victims of Cyclone Nargis. However, one month after it devastated the Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar, MSF teams are still encountering villages where survivors live in dire conditions and have not yet received any significant aid.

With an international conference of donor governments meeting over the weekend in Yangon, Myanmar, MSF Emergency Coordinator Jean-Sebastien Matte describes the needs that remain more than three weeks after Cyclone Nargis struck the country.

MSF now has more than 250 staff on the ground in Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta, with a total of 33 medical teams. MSF teams have reached around 120,000 people to provide medical and relief assistance. These teams have distributed at least 310 metric tons of rice, more than 84,000 cans of fish, 16,500 liters of cooking oil, and 13,500 plastic sheets for building shelters.

Françoise Bouchet-Saulnier, author of The Practical Guide to Humanitarian Law, considers the notion of the “responsibility to protect,” which has been raised, incorrectly, given the obstacles to international assistance in Myanmar following Cyclone Nargis. She is the legal director of MSF in France.

Yangon/Geneva/New York, May 16, 2008—Fourteen days after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar, the needs remain immense in the Irawaddy Delta. Teams with the international medical humanitarian organization MSF are delivering direct medical assistance and relief supplies to tens of thousands of people. However, MSF urges an immediate scale up of overall relief operations, which have been deployed far too slowly and are largely insufficient.

More than one week after cyclone Nargis devastated the southwestern areas of Myanmar (Burma), the first MSF cargo plane arrived this morning in Yangon (Rangoon) at 8.30 a.m. local time, loaded with 34 tons of medical supplies and relief equipment. After customs clearance, the goods have been transferred to MSF warehouses in the city.

More than one week after cyclone Nargis devastated the southwest areas of Myanmar, the first Cargo plane chartered by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) arrived this morning in Yangon at 8:30 AM local time, loaded with 34 tons of medical and logistical material. After customs clearance, the goods have been transferred to MSF warehouses in the city.

Over the weekend, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF) sent 3 cargo planes from Europe with a total of 110 metric tons of relief supplies, including tents, medical material and drugs, pumps and generators for water and sanitation activities, and ready-to-use therapeutic food. The first plane is scheduled to arrive Monday morning local time. The MSF team will be on site to ensure delivery.

Geneva/Yangon, May 9, 2008—As the first MSF relief plane receives permission to land in Yangon tomorrow, Saturday, the international medical humanitarian organization has already intensified its emergency program. As MSF scales up, there is a need for more technical experts and further supplies in the coming days. MSF has staff in various countries awaiting visas, and several other planes of cargo ready to leave in the coming days, though these still need permission from authorities to land.

MSF teams are intensifying their response in some of the worst cyclone-affected areas of Myanmar’s (Burma) Irrawaddy Delta, by providing medical care, basic relief items and food, as well as improving access to clean water. A first cargo plane carrying 40 tons of relief supplies and medical materials is leaving Europe today for Yangon, Myanmar.

Geneva/New York, May 7, 2008 — Immediately after Cyclone Nargis hit several regions of Myanmar, teams in the country with  MSF began assessing and responding to the needs of the population in Yangon and in neighboring areas. First assessments show that in the Daala and Twantey zones, south of Yangon and home to 300,000 people, 80 percent of buildings have been destroyed and some parts of the region are still flooded under one meter of water.

Souheil Reaiche, MSF head of mission in Yangon, Myanmar, describes the situation in the country following the devastating Cyclone Nargis.

Three days after Cyclone Nargis affected several areas of Myanmar, causing the deaths of a reported 10,000 people and severe material damage, large parts of the population remain without drinking water, food, and shelter.

For patients with advanced HIV, complications from CMV retinitis— most notably blindness—are preventable. However, screening and treatment are out of reach in many places where CMV retinitis is prevalent.

New York, December 20, 2007 — People struggling to survive violence, forced displacement, and disease in the Central African Republic (CAR), Somalia, Sri Lanka, and elsewhere often went underreported in the news this year and much of the past decade, according to the 10th annual list of the “Top Ten” Most Underreported Humanitarian Stories, released today by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Geneva/Bangkok, December 1, 2007 – Failure to diagnose and treat cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMV) in people with AIDS is leading to unnecessary blindness, according to a paper published today in the journal PLoS Medicine. The authors found in pilot studies that CMV retinitis, which has been dramatically reduced in wealthy countries since the advent of antiretroviral therapy, occurred in 23%, 27%, and 32% of patients with advanced AIDS in Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand respectively. By training clinicians to screen and taking steps to make the best treatment affordable, the authors argue that CMV diagnosis and treatment can easily be integrated into existing AIDS treatment programs.

New York, March 12, 2007 – After fleeing persecution in Myanmar and living in appalling conditions for many years in Bangladesh, hundreds of refugee families are now requested by the Bangladeshi authorities to evacuate and leave without being provided with an alternative place to go, the medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said today.

Paris, March 30, 2006 – After four years in Myanmar (Burma), the French section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has closed its medical programs and left the country. The programs were situated in Mon and Karen states, a region bordering Thailand and caught in an armed conflict between the Burmese military government and rebel groups. MSF has left because of unacceptable conditions imposed by the authorities on how to provide relief to people living in war-affected areas. The French section of MSF ended its presence in Myanmar on March 26 when the head of mission departed from the country.

The French section of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has ended its medical programs in Myanmar (Burma). Dr. Hervé Isambert, MSF program manager, explains the reasons for the departure.

December 28, 2004 - Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) emergency medical teams are assessing the needs of populations in the areas hit hardest by the earthquake and tsunami in South Asia. MSF is airlifting more than 60 tons of medical, surgical, and water-and-sanitation equipment to Sri Lanka and Indonesia. Currently, MSF teams are on the ground in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.

Frank Smithuis, MD, is the country manager and medical coordinator for MSF in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma. He highlights how MSF teams are working in this isolated country to provide urgently needed care to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis.