Despite significant progress in recent years, Myanmar continues to face many challenges to ensure that children thrive. Community Partners International (CPI) is supporting a cooperative initiative between the Government of Myanmar and the Karen Ethnic Health Organizations Consortium to use cash transfers to boost the health of children in the first 1,000 days of life in contested areas of Kayin (Karen) State.
In Myanmar, an estimated 116,800 babies are born premature (before 37 completed weeks of gestation) each year. Among children under five, 21% of deaths are attributed to premature birth complications. A growing body of evidence suggests that kangaroo mother care (KMC), where mothers hold premature babies skin-to-skin to prevent hypothermia and support early breastfeeding, is one of several key ways to help premature babies survive and thrive.
As Myanmar continues to implement challenging reforms in public health and social services, there is a pressing need to develop research expertise and generate the evidence base to guide and inform effective decision-making, service planning and implementation. To highlight the need for and help strengthen qualitative research capacity, Community Partners International (CPI) organized a three-day research training workshop in Nay Pyi Taw from November 6 to 8, 2018, attended by 32 representatives from the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) Health Literacy Promotion Unit (HLPU), the Department of Social Welfare (DSW), PhD students from the University of Public Health (UPH) in Yangon and CPI staff.
On October 20 and 21, 2018, the B. K. Kee Foundation hosted the second Myanmar Liver Symposium in Yangon, Myanmar, in collaboration with the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports, the Myanmar Liver Foundation, Stanford University School of Medicine’s Center for Innovation in Global Health and Community Partners International (CPI). Dr. Thet Khaing Win, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Sports, Dr. Tin Myo Win, Chairman of the Union Peace Commission and U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar Scot Marciel gave the welcoming remarks.
As part of an ongoing series of forums throughout Myanmar to raise awareness of and engagement with Universal Health Coverage (UHC) among civil society organizations (CSOs), Pyi Gyi Khin and Community Partners International (CPI) organized a CSO Health Forum in Loikaw, Kayah State, on August 20 and 21, 2018. The forum brought together around 60 representatives of 15 CSOs implementing health care activities in Kayah State, the Director of the Kayah State Health Department and staff from all seven of Kayah State’s Township Health Departments.
Through the Eye of the Needle: Covering the Last Hundred Miles to Immunize Children in Kayin State7/18/2018
In late May, and early June, 2018, health worker teams from the Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) embarked on a fourth round of vaccinations for babies, young children and pregnant women in contested and conflict-affected areas of Kayin State, Myanmar. These communities are remote and hard to reach, accessible only along dirt tracks through mountainous and densely forested terrain that become virtually impassable during the monsoon season. This is the story of one team’s journey to provide lifesaving vaccinations to three villages in Kyainseikgyi township.
As Myanmar’s health system evolves and health providers work towards the achievement of Universal Health Coverage by 2030, securing adequate financing remains an enduring challenge. This is particularly true for ethnic health organizations that, despite providing the first line of health services to hundreds of thousands of people in conflict-affected, hard-to-reach and under-served areas of Myanmar, have not received to date any direct financing from the Government of Myanmar. Community Partners International (CPI) is working with two ethnic health organizations in Southeastern Myanmar on a pilot project to model a new approach to health financing in Myanmar: Strategic Purchasing of health services. The intention for this pilot is to inform and guide future financing agreements, and help ethnic health service providers to secure broad, reliable and long-term financing sources to support their lifesaving work.
As part of an ongoing series of forums to raise awareness of and engagement with Universal Health Coverage (UHC) among civil society organizations (CSOs) in Myanmar, Pyi Gyi Khin and Community Partners International (CPI) organized a CSO Health Forum in Sagaing Region on June 5-6, 2018. The forum brought together 116 representatives of 79 CSOs implementing health care activities in Sagaing Region, and 9 members of the Sagaing Region Hluttaw (Parliament).
For Myanmar to achieve the stated ambition to provide Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030, universal access to health services remains a key challenge. This is particularly true for the hundreds of thousands of people living in conflict-affected and hard-to-reach areas of the country where the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) has historically had little or no coverage, and where trust in the national government has been severely eroded by decades of conflict.
Making Universal Health Coverage (UHC) a reality in Myanmar hinges on the support and participation of civil society – bringing their local expertise and community networks into the broader effort to ensure health for all. As part of the process of building an understanding of and support for UHC in Chin State, Myanmar, Community Partners International (CPI) and Pyi Gyi Khin organized a Civil Society Organizations (CSO) Health Forum in Hakha, Chin State, on May 17 and 18, 2018.
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