Humanitarian needs are particularly acute in the dry zone as well as in border areas that have been plagued for decades by instability and on-going conflict with limited humanitarian access. Communities have very limited access to safe water in Eastern border areas. The basic health services in the border regions are poor due to shortage of medical facilities, equipment and health staff The under five-mortality rate and the infant mortality rate in Myanmar remain high, estimated at 106 and 76 per 1000 live births respectively. Chronic malnutrition, ranging from 31-61%, is caused by inadequate food intake, lack of health care and also poor water and sanitation facilities.

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CERF allocates US$ 1.5 million to Myanmar for tuberculosis treatment and protection activities

24 September 2007: General vulnerability in Myanmar continues to be defined by accelerating impoverishment, and the growing inability of the social service provision structures to address the essential needs of the general population. 

Myanmar school feeding [Photo: WFP/Wu]

CERF has provided funds to address humanitarian needs in Myanmar as part of the second underfunded allocation in 2007.

Tuberculosis response in Border Areas
The Health sector in Myanmar is in an underfunded emergency situation, especially since the withdrawal of the Global Fund to fight TB, AIDS and malaria in August 2005. With the withdrawal of the Global Fund, there are no other funding sources to avert deaths from TB in Myanmar for newly diagnosed TB patients. A rupture of the anti-TB drug supply would leave more than 18,000 new TB patients without treatment in the coming months. The majority of the TB patients will either die or buy drugs of doubtful quality on the private market for a duration less than the required 6-8 months of treatment.

With the CERF grant of US$550,000, the World Health Organization (WHO) will institute an Anti-Tuberculosis programme among the IDPs and migrants living in the Thai-Myanmar border areas. CERF funding will bridge a critical gap in anti-TB drug supply covering 18,000 TB patients (18.5% of those children, 38% women and 11% co-infected with HIV) from September to December 2007.

Protection activities in Northern Rakhine State
The Muslim populations in Northern Rakhine State, including the majority of the 250,000 refugees who sought protection in Bangladesh and then returned, continue to confront restrictions of movement, lack of citizenship, land reallocation and continued practice of forced labour and compulsory contributions.  Moreover, the level of acute malnutrition is rising and the emergency food pipeline to primary school student is facing a breakdown.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) grant of US$401,000 will provide protection and emergency nutritional assistance in Northern Rakhine State. UNHCR and its partners are addressing the most acute needs of vulnerable Muslim returnees. 
 
Funds received to date will allow World Food Programme (WFP) to provide assistance according to its planned distribution rates but only through to the end of September. The projected pipeline break could have severe consequences on an already impoverished community whose coping capacities are significantly stretched. The pipeline break will not only reduce the number of vulnerable families receiving food assistance through the FFE modality but will inevitably push many to borrow for food and take children out of school to help make ends meet. 

Funding from the CERF (US$497,000) has therefore been provided to secure the pipeline in order that food support can be provided to the critically vulnerable food-insecure families through to the end of the lean season, from September through to December 2007.

[Last Update: 24 September 2007]

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CERF enables life-saving humanitarian assistance in Eastern Myanmar

13 March 2007: A number of assessments conducted over the past 6 months identified that urgent support is required to alleviate suffering and respond to the pressing humanitarian needs of affected populations in the dry zone and the border areas.

An estimated 500,000 internally displaced persons are located in Eastern Myanmar alone, of which an estimated 220,000 live in Kayin State, Mon State and the Tanintharyi Division. Insecurities and harsh living conditions in these areas have also prompted a large number to flee to Thailand. Reports show that these populations are of particular risk and require special attention. However, the humanitarian access to those areas from inside the country is limited due to government restrictions.

The CERF grant of US$ 2.7 million, allocated on 23 December 2006, will enable the UN Country Team, in close collaboration with a range of implementing partners, to deliver life-saving humanitarian assistance to forced migrants and affected communities in the Eastern border areas and the dry zone in Myanmar.

The CERF grant will enable UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to provide health relief for uprooted and deprived children and families: For nutrition-related services, UNICEF targets 2.3 million children and 340.000 pregnant women while essential drugs will be targeted at 1 million children under age five and their families.

The World Food Programme (WFP) will provide emergency food assistance to 85,00 critically vulnerable and food-insecure beneficiaries, particularly TB patients and people living with HIV-AIDS in the central dry zone (Magway).

The CERF grant of US$ 2.7 million comes in addition to the US$ 1 million allocated to UNHCR and IOM in Myanmar in early December 2006.

The 6 December 2006 grant targeted the provision of medical supplies and equipment in rural health centres in order to decrease morbidity and mortality rates. The grant also provides for improved access for affected communities to basic and emergency health services, as well as malaria control to reduce the number of fatal cases.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders, uses the CERF grant to provide emergency health assistance to 60,000 villagers in 11 townships in Kayin and Mon States, Southeastern Myanmar.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) complements its ongoing malaria control activities amongst a highly vulnerable population in four townships in Mon State. CERF funds will ensure access to WHO-standard free malaria early diagnosis and prompt an effective treatment in order to reduce the number of fatalities.

[Last Update: 3 October 2007]

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CERF in Myanmar 2008

CERF in Myanmar 2006