MYANMAR: Every village should have one midwife - UNFPA official

IRIN: Humanitarian News and Analysis

WABOEGONE, 16 October 2008 (IRIN) - Almost five months after Cyclone Nargis claimed five of her six children, Thein Thein faces having her seventh baby without any proper care. Thein Thein, 38, has few safe delivery options as there is no midwife in her village, Waboegone, comprising 100 people in about 20 households, which can only be reached by a five-hour boat journey and a 30-minute walk. Pregnant women in rural areas usually give birth at home with the help of a village midwife, who is rarely properly trained, or a health attendant from a local health centre. A nurse from the nearest town - Pyinzalu in Labutta Township at the southern part of the Ayeyarwady Delta - comes to Waboegone village every month for maternal health services. "I might need to go to the nearest town to deliver the baby as there is no midwife here," said Thein Thein. Pregnant women in the hard-to-reach cyclone-hit area are among the most vulnerable of survivors of the category four storm that left...

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In Myanmar, IRC Restores Health and Water Services in Cyclone-Battered Villages

JENKS - The deadly Cyclone Nargis left 200,000 dead and 2.5 million people homeless in Myanmar last May, but a native of the land now living in Jenks and local churches areable to help.

Myanmar's Nargis-hit rice fields replanted - FAO

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Myanmar After Cyclone Nargis

Myanmar thanks PGMA for sending relief goods, medical team in wake of devastating cyclone

Aid groups blast ASEAN-led report on Myanmar relief effort

FAO to extend cyclone aid project period for Myanmar

Myanmar: Aid still needed

Only half of Myanmar cyclone aid fund delivered

In Myanmar, cyclone continues to take a toll

Myanmar: Children of the cyclone

Cyclone Nargis left hundreds of children orphaned and vulnerable. These are the stories of Htoo and Pont Pont.

Saw Kay Htoo

You could be forgiven for thinking that Saw Kay Htoo is just like any other 11-year-old boy. Walking home from school with a beaming smile and chatting with his classmates, there are no obvious signs of the tragedy he has lived through.

Home, however, is the child protection centre in Labutta, where seven orphans live together. They all lost their parents during the cyclone almost five months ago. Three of the smaller children are from the same family, but Saw Kay Htoo is alone.

Htoo lost his parents and ten siblings when Cyclone Nargis ravaged the Ayeyarwaddy Delta that fateful night in May. His family tried to escape the cyclone in their boat, but the boat was dashed to pieces by the waves. He saw his parents and siblings disappear one by one during the night. Htoo managed to survive by holding on to some wreckage until he landed on higher ground....

Where is happiness in Burma for Waso festival ?

This day marks the beginning for Buddhist monks of a retreat which will last at least three months. During the Waso festival people offer flowers to the Buddhist imagem ushering all their devotions. One of the most important events in the course of the Waso is the offering of robes to the Monks which they generally wear during their retreat . People also offer them candles, known as the "Waso candles".

Waso is also the time for people to do meritorious deeds, practise contemplation and self-denial. Every one makes it a point of fasting and observes special precepts one day in the week. Even habitual drinkers take a vow of abstinence, for the season, at least, and practise in these days self discipline.

Cyclone Nargis and the Politics of Relief and Reconstruction Aid in Burma (Myanmar)

In early May 2008, Cyclone Nargis tore across southern coastal areas of Burma (Myanmar), pushing a tidal surge through villages and rice paddies. The 12-foot wall of water killed tens of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless and vulnerable to injury and disease. Even in the commercial capital of Rangoon, where structures are more sturdily constructed, winds up to 120 mph sheared off roofs and uprooted trees and electrical poles. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the tropical storm rendered 500 000 or more acres of the 3.2 million acres of paddy land in the Irrawaddy Delta, the hardest hit region, unavailable for the monsoon planting season that began in June.1 After the storm, Burma's commander-in-chief, Senior General Than Shwe, declared that Burma was capable of handling the relief effort but would allow limited international assistance so long as "no strings were attached."2

Typically, the public health model for...