Guest Comments by the Mae Tao Clinic and Back Pack Health Workers Team

THAILAND – The health of women and children in the conflict-affected portions of eastern Burma ranks among the world's worst. That's due to official disinvestment in health, protracted conflicts and abuse of civilians.

A report, Diagnosis: Critical, based on a survey by community health organizations of more than 27,000 people in eastern Burma, shows that 40-plus per cent of the children suffer from malnutrition and 60 per cent of the people die from preventable diseases. One in every 14 women is infected with malaria, one of the highest rates anywhere. One in every seven children in eastern Burma will die before age five, almost double Burma's official figures that already rank among the world's worst.

Among the surveyed people, almost a third had experienced human-rights abuses in the previous year, especially forced labor and displacement. These abuses drive the health crisis. Children in displaced families are three times more likely to suffer from acute malnutrition and 60 per cent more likely from diarrhea. The odds of children dying by age one double in households forced to provide labor.

“The inability of these peoples to enjoy basic rights is killing them,” said Dr Sriprapha Petcharamesree of Thailand's Mahidol University.

In the absence of state-supported health infrastructure, community-based groups work to improve access to health services. Dr Cynthia Maung, a leading physician among indigenous health providers, says, “It is a crime that so many in eastern Burma, particularly women and children, die of preventable and treatable diseases. We are doing what we can to help, but without an end to the military regime's abuses, this health crisis will continue.”