Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has included Burma in its 11th annual list of the world’s “Top Ten” humanitarian crises 2008, says a press released published on the organization’s website today. Also included in the list are Sudan, where the U.S. government has officially recognized genocide to be ongoing, and Somalia, which has been without a stable government for over a decade.
In addition to the deaths of over 130,000 people during and after Cyclone Nargis last May, says MSF, “chronic and urgent health needs remain unmet throughout the country.” Health expenditures are appallingly low, says the report, with Burma’s government health spending totaling just $.70 USD per person in 2007 – barely .3 percent of gross domestic product. Extensive sanctions by the world’s major powers also means the country received the world’s lowest rate of international humanitarian aid.
The MSF report is also careful to highlight the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in Burma, which it charges both Burma’s government and the international community with ignoring. According to MSF, 25,000 people in Burma were killed by the disease in 2007, with another 75,000 in urgent need of treatment.
Unfortunately, fewer than 20% of those in need currently have access to antiretroviral therapy (ARV). The bulk of this treatment is provided by MSF, who is able to reach only 11,000 people – a situation MSF calls “untenable and unacceptable.”
“People affected by HIV/AIDS in Burma are desperate for more assistance. They want to live healthy and happy lives like any other. The ground-swell is there – HIV patient groups are forming around the country and our medical staff works tirelessly to assist patients,” says the report, quoting an MSF worker inside Burma. “But it is just not enough, the problem is too big. Others must do more.”
This sentiment echoes those expressed earlier this month by an NGO worker from a local organization in southern Burma. “Our organization is helping 40 HIV patients,” she said. “But we cannot give enough medicine. Because of that, we can just offer them encouragement. But we heard that donors will give more funding in 2010.”
A source at another NGO working with Mon people agreed. “Our organization is helping HIV/AIDs patients. We give treatment and medicine, but we cannot for all patients,” said the woman, who works for the International Organization for Migrants (IOM). “We do not have enough for all patients. We can only help patients who are extremely sick. And we don’t have enough ARVs.”
Malaria remains Burma’s number one killer, reads the report, with deaths equaling to more than half the total for all of Southeast Asia. “We can control malaria in the areas where we reach, but we can't outside of that,” said a leader of MSF-Belgium, which is working along the Thai-Burma border near Three Pagodas Pass. “For instance, we can only find two or three malarial patients in a rural area, but in reality there are 30 patients nearby,” said the MSF leader, who added that he knew of the deaths of 8 malarial patients that is team had been unable to reach. MSF-Belgium has been working along the border in Mon areas since June 2007. MSF-France worked in the area from 1992 until 2005.
Burma also has one of the highest rates of tuberculosis (TB) infection in the world, says MSF, with 80,000 new cases discovered every year. Over 900 people currently have TB in Mudon Township alone, said the IOM worker, who added that this number is an underestimate. “Many people who have TB do not go to the hospital,” she said. “They try to treat themselves in their own way.”
