Renewed tensions and conflict in Kachin State, Myanmar, have created a humanitarian emergency with nearly 100,000 people forcibly displaced into more than 130 displacement sites across the state. It is crucial that these displaced communities have access to basic health care and nutrition services to help them survive during these precarious times. 

Many women in remote and conflict-affected communities of Kachin State, Myanmar, lack access to reliable and comprehensive birth control options. Until recently in Myanmar, injectable hormonal birth control could only be provided by midwives. However, most communities in Kachin State do not have regular access to midwife services. In an important recent development, the Myanmar Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) introduced new guidelines allowing auxiliary midwives (AMWs) to administer a self-injectable hormonal birth control option (known as DMPA-SC), once they have been sufficiently trained. As the AMW network can reach more remote communities, this change has the potential to transform access to reliable and comprehensive birth control for many thousands of women of reproductive age in Kachin State and across Myanmar.

On May 27 and 28, 2019 , Myanmar, 85 epresentatives from 60 civil society organizations (CSOs) delivering health services in Tanintharyi Region gathered in Dawei at a forum focused on universal health coverage (UHC) organized by Community Partners International (CPI) in partnership with Pyi Gyi Khin. The forum is part of a nationwide effort by CPI to raise awareness and understanding among health CSOs about UHC, and support their engagement and involvement in delivering a basic essential package of health services to their communities under the National Health Plan, 2017-2021 (NHP).

​In the run-up to today’s International Harm Reduction Day, the 26th International Harm Reduction Conference (HR19) in Porto, Portugal, came to a close on May 1, 2019. With support from the USAID HIV/AIDS Flagship (UHF) Project, colleagues from Médecins du Monde (MdM), Medical Action Myanmar (MAM), Asian Harm Reduction Network (AHRN), and Community Partners International (CPI) had the opportunity to attend the biannual conference.