In Burma's jungles, children and women suffer a horrific health crisis caused by war and the lack of medical care. The numbers are staggering: 13 out of 100 newborns do not survive their first month. 3 out of 10 children do not reach their 5th birthday. 7 out of 100 mothers die from childbirth. 1 in 4 malaria patients never recover. But there is hope: Backpack medics. In 2019-2020, Burma Humanitarian Mission will support 26 backpack medic teams with 1.5 million doses of medicine.
The government of Burma/Myanmar does not provide healthcare to the internally displaced ethnic minority peoples. Without access to medical care, morbidity & mortality rates are horrendous: 135 infant deaths out of 1,000 births 7 maternal deaths out of 1,000 births Malaria mortality rate of 26 out of 100 patients dying 11 out of 100 people suffer from malaria 3 out of 100 people suffer from dysentery 3 out of 100 people suffer from pneumonia
The Backpack Health Worker Teams (BPHWT) are the mobile medic teams comprised of 3-5 ethnic minority men and women. These backpack teams travel among their people in the conflict zones in villages and IDP camps, providing medical care, mother-child health care and community health education. Backpack medics administer responsive medical care which provides villagers with medicines to counter a wide range of common diseases.
In 2018, BHM's Backpack Medics succeeded in reducing malaria morbidity from 11% of the population to just 0.4% and dysentery rates dropped from 2.8% to 1% of the population. Collectively, the reduced mortality and morbidity rates demonstrate that our capacity building approach works - to empower the ethnic minorities of Burma to care for their own and reduce suffering!
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