MSF teams continue to care for HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C patients, provide basic healthcare and reproductive and sexual healthcare services, and to respond to medical emergencies.
We pioneered HIV treatment in Myanmar – at one point becoming the largest provider of antiretrovirals in the country – and steadily grew a large patient cohort. In 2015, we began working with the Ministry of Health to transfer patients to the decentralised National AIDS Programme, so people can receive care closer to home. This has been suspended since the military seized power, and we are now seeing those patients return to us in greater numbers at our clinics in Shan, Kachin and Tanintharyi.
Despite restrictions on humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas, we have mobile teams based in Sittwe and Maungdaw in Rakhine state, who offer basic healthcare. They also arrange emergency referrals for patients from all communities, including those forcibly detained in camps.
Data and information from the International Activity Report 2023.
Violence escalated at the end of October in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states, displacing an additional 660,000 people and exacerbating the already severe healthcare needs. People struggled to access care, as hospitals ceased to function following attacks or evacuations, and the warring parties imposed travel restrictions on people and humanitarian organisations.
In response, our teams in Kachin and Shan provided medical support and distributed relief items, such as hygiene and cooking kits, to displaced people. We also increased sexual and reproductive health services and support for victims of sexual violence in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine.
Until November, our mobile teams in Sittwe district, Rakhine, conducted outpatient consultations in remote areas where healthcare is scarce or non-existent, or inaccessible due to cost or restrictions on movement. We also identified patients in need of specialised care and supported them with the referral process. This process is particularly challenging for Rohingya people, as they are contained in fenced camps or villages and require permission from the authorities to move around.
When the escalation in conflict prevented our teams from running mobile clinics for the last two months of the year, patients relied heavily on our community health workers and teleconsultations for medical care.
Meanwhile, we extended our support to Aung San tuberculosis (TB) hospital in the capital, Yangon, where almost 50 per cent of the country’s patients with drug-resistant TB receive care.
During 2023, we continued the handover of our HIV patients to the Ministry of Health, switching our focus to supporting the national AIDS programme with staff and technical assistance.
In May, after Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Rakhine state, causing widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, we delivered medical care to the people affected. We also conducted water and sanitation activities, which included repairing latrines, distributing hygiene items and trucking in clean water.
IN 2023
