Struggling for Health & Human Rights in Burma

Health Statistics
Life expectancy at birth: 56 years (1999) (Thailand 69.9)
Maternal mortality: 486 per 100,000 live births (1999) (Thailand 44)
Infant mortality: 79 per 1,000 (1999) (Thailand 30)
Under-5 malnutrition: 35% (1999) (Thailand 19%)
Doctors per 100,000 people: 28 (1993) (Thailand: 24)

Burma is in the midst of a health crisis. All social services in Burma, including the country's health system, have suffered terribly under years of military dictatorship. Since the current military junta reasserted direct army rule in 1988, health services have further deteriorated.

In many areas, preventable or treatable maladies such as malaria and malnutrition are rife. Outbreaks of plague are still reported. Burma has one of the highest heroin addiction rates in the world with numbers estimated at over 500,000. 57% of intravenous drug users are estimated to be HIV positive. The UN estimates that 530,000 people - 2% of the population aged from 15 to 49 - are infected with HIV. The situation qualifies as an epidemic. Reports indicate that the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) - the military regime - is involved in all aspects of the drug trade.

Very few of the country's resources are being directed to improvements in the health sector. The SPDC's expenditure on health care in 1999 was about US$0.60 per capita. The World Bank's recommended minimum is 20 times that amount. According to United Nations statistics, the SPDC spends 222% more on military spending than it does on health and education combined. These UN figures might in fact underestimate SPDC military spending; the regime is still expanding an army whose main role is to suppress internal dissent in the world's longest running civil war.

Health problems are exacerbated by the military junta's brutality and repression. Widespread and systematic use of forced labour, torture, other physical mistreatment, and the casualties and other consequences of long years of warfare with armed ethnic opposition groups are obvious problems.

Censorship remains one of the main obstacles to health education. Burma's people are neither informed nor educated regarding health matters and have no say in how these problems are addressed. The freedom to organise and participate in civil society organisations remains far from the reach of the people of Burma, and responding to the health crisis through civil structures is massively limited.

Until Burma enjoys a responsible and accountable government, significant change is unlikely.

© Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA 2003.

Last Modified: Wednesday, 16-Nov-2005 16:05:28 EST
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