As Foodpanda riders weave through the streets of Yangon, Myanmar, they’re not just bringing noodles, bubble tea, and other tasty food and drinks to their customers. They’re also delivering important messages about diagnosing and treating tuberculosis (TB). Since World TB Day (March 24), more than 1,000 Foodpanda riders across the city have been wearing special shirts with the message, "If you've been coughing for two weeks or more, test for TB at your nearest clinic", emblazoned on the back in Burmese.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant challenge to public health in Myanmar (Burma). On World TB Day, we talk to TB patients and health workers in remote communities of the Naga Self-Administered Zone to discover how USAID’s HIV/TB Agency, Information and Services Activity, led by Community Partners International, is helping to ensure access to testing and treatment.
Community organization New Life helps people living with HIV (PLHIV) in rural villages in Myanmar (Burma)’s Mandalay Region. We talk to an HIV-positive client, a peer educator and New Life’s co-founder about their experiences during Myanmar’s crisis.
World AIDS Day: Meet the People Sustaining Lifesaving HIV Services During Myanmar’s Crisis11/28/2022
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.
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.
Myanmar’s Immunization Emergency: “If we can’t find more vaccines, coverage could drop to zero.”7/26/2022
Data from the World Health Organization (WHO) show a collapse in routine immunization coverage of children in Myanmar (Burma) between 2020 and 2021. We talk to a representative of a community-based partner organization supported by Community Partners International (CPI) about the situation she is experiencing on the ground in conflict-affected areas of southeast Myanmar, and the potentially devastating impact this could have on vulnerable communities.
Between 2012 and 2020, Myanmar (Burma) made extraordinary gains against malaria. The number of confirmed cases fell by almost 88% and the reported number of deaths fell by 98%. In 2020, only 10 deaths in Myanmar were officially attributed to malaria. This was the result of a coordinated multi-stakeholder prevention, control and elimination strategy supported by sustained local and international investment. But these gains are now under threat due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the February 2021 coup.
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.”
“My grandmother’s blood oxygen level dropped to 80% and she couldn’t eat or drink. At the end, she was so weak that she couldn’t breathe from the oxygen tank. Losing a family member in front of my eyes really made me understand the danger of COVID-19.”
In early October 2021, Elizabeth’s whole family came down with COVID-19 in their village in Ayeyarwady Region, Myanmar. The country was in the midst of a devastating third wave that killed many thousands of people. The health system, already shattered by political unrest, was overwhelmed. 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.
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AuthorCPI Admin Archives
May 2023
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