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.
Gender-Based Violence in Myanmar: “The safe house is a lifeline for women who have lost hope.”11/24/2022
The Thandaunggyi Women’s Group helps survivors of gender-based violence in southeast Myanmar. In the shadow of the coup and widespread conflict that has swept the country, we talk to the women who sustain these essential services.
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.
As a small business owner with a disability, Ko Moe has faced many challenges in keeping his business afloat during the COVID-19 pandemic and Myanmar's political and economic crises. But he's not giving up. With support from Community Partners International (CPI) and local partner the Myanmar Deaf Community Development Association (MDCDA), he is determined to return his business to profit.
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.
In Kayin (Karen) State, southeast Myanmar (Burma), renewed conflict between the Myanmar military and ethnic nationality organizations has displaced thousands of people and created a humanitarian crisis against the backdrop of a rising wave of COVID-19. With support from the Livelihoods and Food Security Fund (LIFT), Community Partners International (CPI) is helping local partner the Karen Ethnic Health Organizations Consortium (KEHOC) to provide displaced and conflict-affected women, newborns and young children with essential nutrition support, safe water, and hygiene and sanitation.
“I had to rely on my husband since we married, so now I am happy to earn money. Now, we are saving for my son's future and it makes me feel so pleased.” Eindray Eindray, 28, lives in Rakhine State, Myanmar, with her husband and five-year old son. She is one of 30 women enrolled in a livelihood project implemented by Community Partners International partner Precious Lady, that teaches sewing and handicraft skills, provides them with sewing machines and raw materials, offers basic sales and marketing training, and helps them to access markets where they can sell their products.
“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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April 2024
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