Health

Dr. Cynthia’s Mae Tao Clinic is struggling to keep helping patients as donors to the Thai-Burma border stop funding. Mae Tao Clinic is appealing for help as funding cuts from donors are impacting their operations. The Clinic provides free healthcare to the displaced and vulnerable people of Burma, including refugees and migrants along the Thai-Burma border. Mae Tao Clinic is…

The Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) is prepared to assist the Ministry of Health and Sports (MoHS) in a nationwide drive to vaccinate children against Japanese encephalitis, and even lead efforts in areas controlled by armed ethnic organizations. The ministry’s nationwide Japanese encephalitis vaccination drive, which aims to immunize 14 million children in Burma against the potentially deadly…

Funding cuts to Burma related groups working on the Thai-Burma border have resulted in 20% salary reduction for health workers at Mae Tao Clinic. The Clinic has run a free service for migrant, refugee and people from Burma for 28 years. Mae Tao clinic’s deputy-managing director Naw Eh Ni said that starting from the 3rd of October, staff salaries will…

Nineteen new auxiliary midwives have completed their training and will bolster rural health teams in an aim to reduce maternal mortality in Karen State. The 19 trainees were presented certificates at an inaugural ceremony on September 6. These auxiliary midwives are the sixth batch to complete the seven-month training held by the Backpack Health Worker Team (BPHWT), the Phalon Education…

Karen State health officials this week completed the third and final round of vaccines for children living at an internally displaced persons camp, but were unable to inoculate everyone due to uncooperative parents, health officials said. Around 400 children under five at the Myaing Gyi Ngu Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp were inoculated against tuberculosis, tetanus, chickenpox, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis…

The State Chief physician confirmed at a press conference held on August 15 that one AH1N1 flu positive patient had died at Hpa-an Hospital. Doctor Kyaw Myint, chief physician of the Karen State Public Hospital stated during the press conference that there were two AH1N1 positive patients and twelve AH1N1 suspected patients in Karen State as of August 15. “In…

Ethnic health workers have been awarded government recognized certificates after a joint training held by government and Karen health departments in Hlaingbwe Township, Karen State. The 31 trainees who completed the seven-month maternal child and reproductive health course provided by Karen Department of Health and Welfare (KDHW) and government Health department were awarded certificates on August 8 at the General…

In an exclusive interview with Karen News, Saw Nay Htoo, director of the Burma Medical Association explains why its important ethnic health organizations should be providers of healthcare services to ethnic communities. He points out that Burma is a country where government healthcare provision is almost non-existence and why ethnic organizations need to be involved in reforming Burma’s ailing healthcare…

As more cases of influenza (H1N1) are confirmed in several different locations in Burma including the former capital, Rangoon, Karen State Health Department officials have informed residents not to be overly frightened by the deadly flu. Doctor Kyaw Swar Myint, the Deputy Chief of the State Department of Public Health, made the call in a speech delivered at the World…

Over 200 children at the Myaing Gyi Ngu internally displaced persons camp have received their first ever inoculations this week, amid a joint vaccination drive by the Karen Department of Health and Welfare and the state health department. Between July 4-6 children under five were given a slew of vaccines protecting against tuberculosis, tetanus, chickenpox, diphtheria, pertussis, hepatitis B, pneumococcal…