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 Home Overseas Projects Thai-Burma Border Projects
Shan Health Clinic
The Shan Health Clinic provided free medical assistance to Shan refugees who have fled Burma due to ongoing conflict and repression. All 5,000 people living in the camp have access to health care at no cost provided by Union Aid Abroad APHEDA and our partner, the Shan Health Committee.
Mother and Child at the Shan Clinic
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The Shan ethnic minority are a frequent target of the Burmese military. Since 1996, over 300,000 Shan have fled their homes, many are internally displaced within Burma, while up to 200,000 live in refugee camps in northern Thailand.
The Shan Health Committee, a partner organisation of Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, have set up a clinic that services a refugee camp in the Mae Fah Luang district, near Chiang Rai. Refugees to this camp have been fleeing the increasing numbers of Burmese troops in southern Shan State, and the subsequent rape, torture, extrajudicial killings, forced labour and land confiscation. The Shan Health Clinic treats patients with a variety of problems, including landmine injuries, malaria, respiratory tract infections, TB, HIV/AIDS, and ulcers. Maternal and child health is also a focus of the clinic, as is education. The clinic is free to all patients, this is crucial in a refugee situation where there is no money to pay for these services.
The clinic is currently expanding to accommodate the growing numbers of patients it is seeing. It is staffed by 26 full-time health workers who are based at the clinic, over half of these (14) are women. In the 6 months to February 2008, the clinic saw 2677 patients, with the most common illnesses being upper and lower respiratory tract infections, diarrhea and other stomach problems, and skin infections. The clinic has also established "backpack" health outreach teams to treat people in villages in Shan State. The team has seen 2536 cases in the 6 months to February '08. In addition, the Shan Health Clinic refers patients to the Thai government hospital for further treatment that is beyond the resources of the clinic.
The clinic also runs educational, nutrition, and vaccination programs for Shan refugees, as well as training for medics. In addition, the clinic has a strong focus on the needs of women and children in the camp. Their educational programs focus on pre-natal care, nutrition, HIV/AIDS and family planning. The clinic also provides information and free contraception to women in the refugee camp. Medics from the clinic also visit the camp school every few months to talk to the students about personal hygiene, as well as to do minor check-ups. The clinic also provides food supplements to pregnant and breastfeeding women, and underweight children, and in the 6 months to February 2008 supplemented the diets of 137 women and 73 children.
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