In the areas affected by conflicts in the eastern and Western border regions of Myanmar, health workers report growing cases of tuberculosis and other diseases in the world of the United States and other international donors.
Myanmar had meager investments in the health sector, even before the soldiers took power in a coup d’etat four years ago, triggering widespread battles. The tension on the system intensified with an earthquake of magnitude 7.7 on March 28 which killed more than 3,800 people.
Drastic cuts from the Trump Administration at the International Development Agency, or USAID, have an impact on local health organizations on which vulnerable populations are based, in particular in border regions.
The Federal Department of MON Federal Council of Humanitarian and Rescue has reports on public health and provides kits for drug and malaria tests in certain parts of the Monday and Kayin States in eastern Myanmar. They say that their capacity was reduced to a fraction of what it was in the past.
“I think thousands of people can have a lack of access in this area on our 300,000 [population] Before, “said the head of the department MI soa ta ja, adding that they can only provide 30% of malaria test kits and the drugs they could previously have to the communities. Delayed tests and malaria drugs can have serious consequences such as brain damage, which has already overloaded caregivers, she said.
The group, one of the many funding from USAID through intermediate organizations, says that cuts coincide with an increase in diseases such as tuberculosis and HIV.
It’s not just the United States that reduces aid. The United Kingdom and France also announced a drop in world development spending, France reducing its development aid abroad by 35% in February and the launch of a commission to investigate the impact of financing.
“If there are consequences of the financing cuts of the United States, Europe, from everywhere – it is not only the United States, everyone cuts funding – we will first see them on things like tuberculosis and vaccination vaccine research diseases,” said Dr François Nosten, director of the Shoklo malaria research unit working on the Thai border. “This is what concerns us.”
The four years of fighting, which have moved 3 million people and killed thousands of people, has already disrupted vaccinations. From 2021 to 2023 in Myanmar, the World Health Organization reported an increase in cases of diphtheria, measles, Japanese encephalitis and a significant increase in acute flabby paralysis, an indicator of polio.
Programming cut
In the northwest region of the Myanmar of the State of Chin, the conflict between the ethnic armed groups and the junta forces led to a mass movement.
Dr. Biak Cung Lian, Director of the Chinese Human Rights Protection Program, said the cities’ medical supply chains had been disrupted. Health problems are exacerbated by malnutrition and bad immunity.
Cups in the financing of USAID affected the efforts of its group to treat tuberculosis, or TB, which is easily spread under overcrowded conditions. It has two mobile health programs focused on testing tuberculosis, sexist violence and psychosocial support. They have already dismissed 60 employees.
The doctor also fears that HIV can spread more easily than before. Recently, many young people have been tested positive in a camp for people in the border between the sagaing region and the state of Chin.
“Recently, we heard this antiretroviral therapy [for HIV] Would be hidden due to the disruption of funding. I do not know if we will be able to provide medication (antiretroviral therapy) with our network, “he said, referring to the drugs taken by HIV patients to reduce the risk of transmission and slow down the progression of the AIDS virus.
“So we are in a state where we can do nothing, but I hope there will be something we can understand,” said Biak Cung Lian.
The lack of support for displaced people will also make more difficult for other groups to treat illnesses aggravated by malnutrition and bad immunity, according to health workers.
“There is a certain level of difficulty in providing nutritional services to children under the age of five,” said Thitsar, a doctor of the Karenni loyalty team, a non-profit medical group in the state of Kayah in northeast myanmar.
The group helps treat common diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis with limited medicine. The mobile clinic, created by medical personnel participating in the demonstration for civil servants against the army of Myanmar, the movement of civil disobedience, is one of the few groups providing regular health care to internal displaced persons in the region for transmitted and non -transmitted diseases.
“There is malaria, and this should increase during the next monsoon season. There is a limited quantity of available drugs. We could not say the exact figures, the situation on the ground is quite difficult,” said Thitsar, who has a name.
The US State Department responded to the request for an information FRF of information on its continuous commitment to financing public health in Myanmar by stressing its continuous support in Myanmar following the recent earthquake.
But that does not mention any continuous commitment to help public health programs in Myanmar.
Burmese journalist Khin Khin EI contributed the reports. Published by Ginny Stein and Mat Pennington.