(From left to right) MPH students Phyu, Eh Do, Thae Phyu and Than Zaw at Khon Kaen University, Thailand. (Sai Kyaw Khaing/Kirana Productions/CPI)
In 2022, Community Partners International (CPI) funded scholarships for 17 members of ethnic and community-based health organizations in Myanmar (Burma) to study for a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree course at Khon Kaen University’s Faculty of Public Health in Thailand. Against the backdrop of Myanmar’s coup, rising conflict, and deteriorating health system, we hear from four of the graduates about how their studies will help them to support essential health services for vulnerable and conflict-affected communities.
World AIDS Day: Meet the People Sustaining Lifesaving HIV Services During Myanmar’s Crisis11/28/2022
Aung Nu Pan, an outreach worker with the Asian Harm Reduction Network in Myanmar. (AHRN/CPI)
For people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Myanmar (Burma), the February 2021 coup and ensuing turmoil are endangering the health services they rely on for survival. We speak to community health workers supported by the USAID HIV/TB Agency, Information and Services (AIS) Activity providing a lifeline to PLHIV during this crisis.
A counseling session underway at a clinic in Kachin State, Myanmar, operated by Medical Action Myanmar with support from USAID’s HIV/TB Agency, Information and Services Activity. (MAM/USAID/CPI)
On World Mental Health Day, we speak to community members in Kachin State, Myanmar, about the critical role of mental health and psychosocial support in harm reduction and HIV prevention and treatment among people who inject drugs.
 Dr. Ashim in the Emergency Department at Sadar Hospital, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Md. Dipu/CPI) When Dr. Ashim started working at the COVID-19 Isolation Unit at Sadar Hospital, Cox’s Bazar, in late 2020, Bangladesh was in the midst of a severe wave of COVID-19. “The pressure was very intense,” he explains. “We were overwhelmed with the number of patients. We had 20 beds but we were receiving more than 40 patients each day. We had to turn some patients away because we didn’t have enough space. The Emergency Department was also full.”
 A technician fills a tank with oxygen at the new oxygen plant in Hpa-An, Myanmar. (KEHOC/KDHW/CPI) On January 2, 2022, five days after the first confirmed cases of the COVID-19 Omicron variant were detected in Myanmar, a new oxygen generation plant supported by Community Partners International and the Access to Health Fund opened at a facility operated by the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) in Hpa-An, Kayin (Karen) State.
 Anam Ali, CPI's Country Director in Bangladesh, cuts the ribbon at the opening ceremony for the new health post supported by CPI in Camp 1W of Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Md. Dipu/CPI) Moments after the health post’s doors opened for the very first time on Thursday, December 2, 2021, eight-year-old Omme came in with her father Abul. She was suffering from abdominal pain and fever. The doctor on duty saw Omme immediately and provided care. “Everyone is helpful here,” remarked Abul. “The doctor listened carefully and gave my daughter medicine. I am happy.”
 Construction underway on the new CPI-Green Hill health post in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (CPI) In late August, Community Partners International (CPI) and local partner Green Hill broke ground on a new health post in Camp 1W of Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. Scheduled to open by the end of October, the health post will offer free primary health care services to Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi host communities in the surrounding area.
 Rohingya health volunteer Tofayel conducts COVID-19 contact tracing in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. (Md. Dipu/CPI) "I feel that I am doing an important job for my community. No matter how hard it is, somebody has to do it. In this case, it’s me." Tofayel, Rohingya health volunteer As Bangladesh experiences a spike in COVID-19 cases, there is rising concern for the 700,000+ Rohingya refugees from Myanmar sheltering in Kutupalong Camp, Cox’s Bazar District. Cramped living conditions and limited access to health services make them especially vulnerable. Community Partners International (CPI) and local partner Green Hill are supporting Rohingya volunteers to trace contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases and help to contain the spread of the virus within the refugee community.
 A screenshot from Relief Connect showing distribution of oxygen concentrator banks in Nepal. (CPI) COVID-19 moves fast, and ever faster as new, more infectious variants emerge. This creates challenges for all public health systems but especially those in low-resource settings like Nepal. In these contexts, the ability to track resource needs and gaps in an accurate and timely way and deploy limited resources efficiently becomes even more crucial in the race to save lives.
Seeking to address these challenges in Nepal, Community Partners International (CPI), the blockchain tech company Ibriz and design agency Kazi Studios have created an open online platform called Relief Connect - reliefconnect.org. 
A shipment of 130 oxygen concentrators supplied by Community Partners International reaches Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu, Nepal on May 29, 2021. (CPI)
On May 29, 2021, Community Partners International’s first shipment of 130 high-flow oxygen concentrators to Nepal touched down at Tribhuvan Airport in Kathmandu. Sourced in the United States, and airlifted with assistance from Direct Relief, the concentrators will help the people of Nepal in their desperate struggle with the COVID-19 pandemic.
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