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 140,000 people either dead or missing and 2.4 million badly affected. "Ideally, every village should have one midwife who is government trained for 18 months but one midwife has to cover five to 10 or more villages on average throughout the country," Thwe Thwe Win, the UN Population Fund's (UNFPA) national programme officer, told IRIN. "The Ministry of Health seeks to fill the gap with Auxiliary Midwives [volunteers trained for six months]," she explained. UNFPA has given drugs and reproductive health kits to local hospitals and health centres in the cyclone-affected area as well as providing funding support for in-service training for midwives. The organisation has set up three maternal waiting homes in Bogalay, Labutta and Daydaye but pregnant women in hard-to-reach areas still face difficulties giving birth. Mobile clinics Win Mar lives two hours' walk from the nearest town – Pyinsalu. A health attendant lives in town and only comes once a month.

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

Ngapudaw Township, Myanmar 02 Oct 2008 - Four months after Cyclone Nargis ravaged Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta, the International Rescue Committee is helping rebuild shattered infrastructure and restore health and water services.

Magyi Bin village in Ngapudaw Township was hit hard.  The storm ripped through the village, leaving many buildings in tatters, including the station hospital which provides more than 20,000 people with essential medical services.

“The hospital’s ceiling was completely blown off, its walls, beds and equipment were severely damaged, and its small stock of medicine was mostly wiped out,” says Giorgio Faedo, the IRC’s Field Coordinator in Myanmar. “The crumbling facility is barely able to care for the 50 or more inpatients it receives at any given time.”

IRC teams have started work repairing the structural damage to the building and improving the hospital’s ability to address the needs of the community. IRC contractors and volunteers are...

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

YANGON, Myanmar – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Humanitarian Task Force, and the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) led by ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan have expressed deep appreciation to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for dispatching immediately a 30-man medical team and relief goods to Myanmar following the cyclone that devastated this country last May. "We are very proud of the Philippine participation in this humanitarian effort, not only as a fellow member of the ASEAN but also as a close bilateral partner of Myanmar," Pitsuwan said in a statement during the 100th day of formation of the TCG last Sept. 6. The medical mission, composed of four general surgeons, four pediatricians, three internists, six nurses, four psychosocial experts, four surveillance officers, two water and sanitation engineers, two emergency medical technologists and one public health official, was the first group to arrive in Myanmar after military rulers agreed to grant...

MYANMAR: Dengue fever still a risk in cyclone-hit south

YANGON, 24 August 2008 (IRIN) - Health experts have credited effective interventions for preventing an increase in dengue fever in Myanmar’s cyclone-hit south, but warn that risks remain. “Dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) seems to be under control as the occurrence was quite low compared to last year,” Osamu Kunii, chief of health and nutrition at the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN in Yangon, the former Burmese capital. Reported cases were low in July, traditionally a peak time for the deadly disease, though the most up-to-date figures had not yet come in from health authorities, he explained. The Early Warning, Alert and Response System (EWARS) disease surveillance bulletin for week 33 (10-16 August 2008) has not reported any major change in the status of DHF compared to previous weeks. Risk factors The category four storm (Cyclone Nargis) left behind favourable conditions for the mosquito that carries the flu-like viral disease. Storm debris - including cracked pots, tins,...

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