An Epidemic Within a Pandemic: Safeguarding Myanmar's Newborns From Hepatitis B During COVID-197/27/2020
 Khin Aye and her newborn son who are participating in CPI's Stop Hep B @ Birth Project in South Dagon, Myanmar. Photo: Community Partners International "We have a real opportunity here to push back hepatitis B. With the right approach, we can free a generation of children in Myanmar from this debilitating and deadly virus.” Seven years ago, Khin Aye went for a routine prenatal check-up while pregnant with her first child. The hospital staff conducted a blood test. “When the test came back, they told me I had hepatitis B.”
A health worker from the Eastern Naga Development Organization travels to remote villages in the Naga SAZ to conduct COVID-19 prevention activities. Photo: Courtesy of the Eastern Naga Development Organization
In Myanmar’s restive and remote Naga Self-Administered Zone (SAZ), there are only two medical doctors to serve the needs of an estimated 130,000 people. In April 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic threatening communities across Myanmar, Community Partners International (CPI) supported local civil society organization the Eastern Naga Development Organization (ENDO) to raise awareness of COVID-19 risks and prevention measures in 108 remote villages in five townships: Lahe, Leshi and Nanyun in the Naga SAZ, and the neighboring townships of Hkamti and Pansaung.
An ethnic health worker uses a megaphone to broadcast COVID-19 health information in a remote community in Kayin (Karen) State, Myanmar. Photo: Karen Department of Health and Welfare
Community Partners International (CPI)’s Myanmar team has been busy supporting conflict-affected, hard-to-reach and under-served communities across Myanmar to establish and maintain COVID-19 prevention and response activities. Here are some of the ways that CPI has been mobilizing to help our ethnic and community-based health organization partners in the past few weeks.
 A still from the "Stay at Home" animated music video. In a new song and animated video supported by Community Partners International (CPI), and released on April 9, Myanmar music stars Wine Su Khine Thein and Ni Ni Khin Zaw urge people in Myanmar to stay home to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The video can be viewed on Facebook here.
A selection of the medical supplies to be sent to community-based clinics across Myanmar. Photo: Community Partners International
On April 3, the basement of Community Partners International (CPI)'s office in Yangon was converted into a packing station to prepare packages of essential medical supplies for 180 clinics across Myanmar. The packages will help clinics to bridge gaps in essential needs and replenish medicine stocks for the coming two to three months as part of COVID-19 preparedness.
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