Myanmar civil war spreads diseases across borders
Thailand’s Mae Tao Clinic helps fill a void as Myanmar’s civil war has weakened its health care system. Credit: The New York Times
Conflict and a health system collapse in Myanmar has pushed malaria, cholera, and other illnesses into neighbouring Thailand, reported The New York Times on December 26th.
The civil war in Myanmar has pushed the country’s health system to the brink, sending waves of disease across the border into Thailand and raising fears of a regional public health crisis. Hospitals have been bombed, doctors have gone on strike, and health budgets have been slashed, leaving millions without essential medical care. Preventable and treatable diseases such as diphtheria, malaria, cholera, and tuberculosis are now spreading among displaced populations, challenging Thailand’s healthcare system.
At the Mae Tao Clinic in Mae Sot, Thai volunteers and Burmese staff treat hundreds of patients daily. Volunteer nurse Gree Say recently treated a toddler with diphtheria, a disease she had only learned about in textbooks. “This isn’t something we have seen here before,” she said. The clinic, founded in 1989 after a military crackdown in Myanmar, has seen patient numbers soar since the 2021 coup reignited civil conflict.
The Thai border is so close that clinic staff sometimes hear artillery and see smoke rising from Myanmar. On heavy days, doctors at Mae Tao Clinic and Maesot General Hospital handle double the usual number of patients, attempting to reduce the burden on Thailand’s health system while caring for those fleeing conflict zones.
Myanmar’s health system has been hollowed out over decades of military rule, which prioritised weapons over healthcare. While some progress on disease control was achieved under civilian rule, it was reversed after the military regained power. UNICEF reported that Myanmar has among the world’s highest numbers of unvaccinated children, leaving the population vulnerable to outbreaks of diseases like whooping cough and diphtheria.
“Many people die, not because of the fighting but because of illness,” said Aye Thida, a 45-year-old volunteer supporting HIV patients at Mae Tao Clinic. Villagers fleeing airstrikes and taking shelter in the jungles are exposed to mosquitoes carrying malaria. Thailand, once on track to eradicate malaria by 2024, has seen cases surge again as displaced populations lose access to disease-prevention tools like mosquito nets, condoms, and masks.
Dr. Voravit Suwanvanichkij, an epidemiologist at the border, warned, “It’s not a huge stretch to say the vast majority of Burma is now an epidemiologic blind spot.” Experts caution that untreated malaria could produce drug-resistant strains, while tuberculosis and other communicable diseases may spread internationally if patients travel.
Doctors in Thailand stress the importance of cross-border care. Khin Nyein Nyein, a Burmese doctor at Maesot General Hospital, said, “If Thailand didn’t control the situation, we would be dying here.” She recalls treating a cook with tuberculosis in a scam center and worrying that if he traveled abroad, he could infect dozens of people on a plane.
For patients like 21-year-old No Zin Thant Zaw, quarantined at the tuberculosis “TB Village” clinic run by the Shoklo Malaria Research Unit, the Thai border offers the only chance for life-saving treatment. “In Myanmar, I could not get treatment like this,” he said.
WHO has documented 67 military strikes on hospitals this year alone and experts warn that without urgent international support and coordinated humanitarian efforts, Myanmar’s health crisis could escalate into a regional and global threat.
The New York Times, Maghrebi.org
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