Here is a review of AMI activities in Myanmar from Relief Web.
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AMI in Myanmar
Source: Aide Médicale Internationale (AMI)
Date: 25 Jul 2008
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Improving the health care situation for endangered populations of Myanmar
The situation in Myanmar
Myanmar is an ethnic melting pot. Since its independence, the country has been destabilized by conflicts between the majority Bamar population and various minorities, some of which are officially recognized and possess certain rights. Others are ignored by the authorities and live in extremely insecure conditions. During the 1980s and 90s, armed conflicts affected over two million people, resulting in migrations across the Burmese territory and outside its borders. Today, the situation is still one of concern for minorities and displaced persons, especially with regard to health care. The decline in the economic situation has led to the impoverishment of the population of Myanmar, whose men, women and children are still very vulnerable.
AMI operations - background
AMI is working in Myanmar with displaced and minority populations: the Karen, the Wa and the Rohingya. After the shutting down of AMI operations launched during the 1990s in aid of the Karen, AMI resumed activities in 2001 in the suburbs of Yangon. A second mission was launched in July 2003 in the Wa autonomous region (Shan State), followed by a third in August 2004 in the region of Buthidaung (Rakhine State).
Activities and achievements in 2007
Within AMI’s three areas of operation, the focus is on mother/child health, prevention, education, and development of community facilities, including training of community health care agents and consolidation of local capabilities.
Yangon region, Dala, Twantay and Seikki townships: improving access to quality health care and water; prevention of HIV/AIDS For a population of 265,000 in the Dala, Twantay and Seikki townships, AMI’s programs include:
- providing access to clean water, with the construction of water supply and water-purifying infrastructures, as well as support in organizing water management/ maintenance committees
- contributing to the prevention of sexually transmitted disease (STD) and HIV/AIDS. Three specialized AMI health care centers provide screening as well as care to STD-affected and HIV-positive patients; AMI teams train educational therapists and distribute condoms
- providing large-scale education in health care and hygiene.
Wa region: access to health care In the Wa autonomous region, which has suffered from the lack of alternative rural development programs in favor of campaigns to eliminate opium cultivation, health care structures are sorely inadequate or even non-existent, and private health care services are unaffordable. AMI teams are providing mobile clinics and lending support to the few health care centers in operation, through monitoring and training. Health care education sessions have been set up to increase awareness of certain issues such as hygiene and diseases, e.g. malaria and tuberculosis.
Buthidaung region: access to health care for the Rohingya people In the Buthidaung region of Rakhine State in the northwest of the country, the Rohingya, a large Muslim minority, remain isolated without access to the essentials of health care. AMI is conducting the following operations:
- installation of community facilities for primary health care with a referral system, mobile clinics and support for the few existing health care centers. Reproductive health is a priority.
- training of a network of 175 community health care agents and 160 traditional midwives; training of assistant midwives; training of 60 community health care agents specialilzed in malaria, tuberculosis and malnutrition
- health care education, information on hygiene standards and disease prevention.
Perspectives for 2008
AMI’s goal is to expand and open a fourth base of operations.
Within the three existing programs, objectives for 2008 are as follows:
- Wa region, Shan State: support operations
- Buthidaung, Rakhine State: support community health care networks, open mobile clinics for treatment and preventive care, consolidate mother/child protection services
- Yangon region: in the three townships hit by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, operations will be redirected and adapted to these new circumstances without neglecting original goals such as prevention of STD and HIV/AIDS.
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