http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/134066.php
Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 27 Dec 2008 - 1:00 PST
The maternal health care issues facing women in eastern Burma (also known as Myanmar) are widespread and underreported, according to surveys by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers report that more than 88 percent of women had a home delivery during their last pregnancy and displaced women were more than 5 time as likely to receive no antenatal care. Human rights violations, like displacement and forced labor, were are also widespread and found to affect access to maternal health care. The findings are published in the December 2008 issue of PLoS Medicine.
"Health indicators are poor and human rights violations are widespread in eastern Burma," said Luke Mullany, PhD, MHS, lead author of the study and assistant professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of International Health. "In conflict-affected regions of Burma, research indicates that infant and child mortality rates are higher than other areas due to widespread exposure to gross human rights violations."
According to the study, among the women surveyed, 60 percent expressed an unmet need for modern contraceptives and nearly 95 percent gave birth without the assistance of a skilled attendant or someone with labor and delivery training. Many of these women displayed signs of poor nutrition and very few received vital iron supplements or utilized insecticide-treated bed nets. In addition, more than half of the women were diagnosed as anemic and more than 7 percent tested positive for the malaria parasite.
For the study, the researchers conducted two-stage cluster sampling surveys among reproductive-aged women (15 to 45). The surveys were conducted between September 2006 and January 2007 in the Shan, Mon, Karen, and Karenni communities in eastern Burma. Mullany, along with colleagues, documented access to antenatal care, skilled attendants at birth, postnatal care, family planning services and recent exposure to human rights violations such as displacement and forced labor. With the assistance of trained survey workers who spoke the local language and were known in the community, researchers explored strategies to increase access to maternal health interventions and examined the estimated coverage of maternal health services prior to the Mobile Obstetric Maternal Health Workers (MOM) Project, a program designed to assist in providing maternal health care in eastern Burma.
"The indicators and coverage estimates provided here are strikingly worse than the already low national estimates for Burma that have been provided by various institutional reports," said Chris Beyrer, MD, MPH, senior author of the study and professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Epidemiology. "Increased access to antenatal, labor delivery and newborn care services in eastern Burma is essential to improve the overall health status of these vulnerable populations. In addition, considerable political, financial and human resources are necessary to improve access to care. There needs to be emphasis on maternal and more comprehensively, reproductive health services in health programs targeting these communities."
"Access to Essential Maternal Health Interventions and Human Rights Violations among Vulnerable Communities in Eastern Burma" was written by Luke C. Mullany, Catherine I. Lee, Lin Yone, Palae Paw, Eh Kalu Swe Oo, Cynthia Maung, Thomas J. Lee and Chris Beyrer.
The researchers were funded by grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Institute for Population and Reproductive Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Foundation for the People of Burma.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
615 N Wolfe St., W1600
Baltimore
MD 21205
United States
http://www.jhsph.edu
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Maternal Health Problems In Burma Widespread
RM1 million aid for cyclone victims-MALAYSIAN BUDDHIST ASSOCIATION
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2008/12/27/north/2889948&sec=north
IT has been almost seven months since Cyclone Nargis battered Myanmar but help continues to pour in.
One of the latest efforts was initiated by the Malaysian Buddhist Association (MBA) which raised a total of RM1.05mil through the Burma Cyclone Relief Fund.
MBA advisor Ven. Seck Boon Keng said the committee would channel all the funds through the Burmese Shangha Organisation to launch the Myanmar Cyclone Recovery Project.
“These funds were collected through our branches and members from the public within the fastest time to ensure help arrives for the needy as soon as possible,” he told a press conference when presenting the cheque to the Burmese Shangha Organisation on Wednesday.
The organisation advisor Rev. Sayadaw U. Rajinda, who was authorised to receive the funds, said the funds were expected to be distributed in stages within two years.
“Of this, RM60,000 have been used to purchase 10 tractors for affected farmers to help them in agricultural rehabilitation including re-cultivation.
“We are also giving out a monthly RM30 voucher each for 51 orphans for 12 months and RM93 monthly each for 38 university students for 10 months,” he said.
The purpose of the Myanmar Cyclone Recovery Project was to assist flood and Nargis storm victims in Laputta and Kyaiklat with provision of aid for plantation and agricultural rehabilitation.
It is also aimed at rebuilding the schools for the affected village children who are facing problems of daily survival and difficulties in continuing their education.
“Receiving quality education has been a problem for many children due to many schools having been destroyed by the cyclone,” Sayadaw said.
He said the committee was in the midst of constructing two primary schools and one lower secondary school.
He added that a total RM255,000 was needed for the construction of the schools, each measuring 167 sq m.
They were sheduled for completion in four months’ time, he said.
Russia starts to deliver advanced surface-to-air missiles to Myanmar
http://baganland.blogspot.com/2008/12/russia-starts-to-deliver-advanced.html
Russia has started to fulfil a US$250-million deal to deliver surface-to-air missiles to seven countries including Libya, Syria and Venezuela, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. Russia will also deliver the S-125 Pechora-2M missile batteries to Egypt, Myanmar, Vietnam and Turkmenistan under the contract, the newspaper said, citing a source in the state-owned Russian Technologies corporation.
The Pechora-2M -- known as the SA-3A Goa in NATO parlance -- is an upgraded version of a surface-to-air missile originally developed in the 1960s that was widely shared with the Soviet Union's allies around the world.
UN secretary-general must visit Burma to begin the end-game
http://www.bangkokpost.net/opinion/opinion/8771/un-secretary-general-must-visit-burma-to-begin-the-end-game
By: THAUNG HTUN
Published: 27/12/2008 at 12:00 AM The United Nations' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon seems to be waiting for a miracle before he will visit Burma. Like a scientist afraid of his own experiment, he aims to plot the result before he begins the process. For months now he has been ducking and weaving around increasingly vocal calls for him to visit this failed state with its military despots in charge, and to bring the full weight of the global community to bear on the many and on-going human rights violations occurring there. He seeks, he says, an assurance there will be an outcome. This is an untenable position, overly cautious by far for such a critical situation as Burma.
The UN is willing to allow the Burmese military junta to ride roughshod over international standards of human rights, political practice, economic sustainability and foreign relations.
The global body is allowing the regime to push on towards a sham election in 2010, which will inevitably bolster their power and defer the development of democracy in Burma.
While the shortcomings of the UN indicate a global system that is failing Burma, the UN is not alone.
Regionally, a virtual free-for-all has erupted as investors from China, Russia, Korea, Thailand and elsewhere rush into Burma. A resources and energy assets boom has given the military regime an opportunity to open the flood-gates. Sanctions in place in the US and the EU have ensured Burma's neighbours have few serious competitors, or watchdogs.
The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma, as the legitimate and mandated de jure government in Burma has outlined a step-by-step plan for more focussed and successful engagement with Burma.
The first vital and unavoidable step would be for Mr Ban to visit the country as soon as possible. This would be an opportunity to present and embody the international community's concern over widespread human rights violations and the volatile actions of the country's rulers.
Second, the UN Special Envoy, Ibrahim Gambari must go to Burma again to meet officials and establish infrastructure to:
a) ensure the release of all political prisoners;
b) facilitate open negotiations between Aung San Suu Kyi and the SPDC;
c) to set up a permanent liaison office in Burma to pursue the direct intentions of the Secretary-General; and
d) to bring solutions to Burma's economic crisis.
Third, a process on on-going engagement needs to be rolled out. The generals need to be obliged to meet and engage appropriately with the UN Special Envoy and must grant all relevant UN officers unlimited access throughout the country.
Fourth, the UN should kick-off a process of national reconciliation, capitalising on the work already done by the NCGUB in this direction. This process must be inclusive of all opposition parties, the military and all ethnic groups. This must take place before the proposed elections in 2010 to head-off the usual ruses of the generals to exploit international goodwill, to marginalise authentic opposition voices in Burma and to ensure the irrevocably flawed 2010 election can never take place.
Fifth, all such processes need to have the full-backing of the UN and have their agenda set by the UN. This needs the backing of the UN member states, who must stand up and act on Burma more than they are, and should be a priority as the run-in to the 2010 election looms closer.
Sixth, this process has to be fully open, the dialogue made public and the results known to all, so as to ensure full accountability and the good governance of the initiative.
These are concrete steps, not idle thoughts. Such a programme will have the means of bringing progress to Burma. The international community understands these mechanisms and can work within them. Yet, there is inaction; a sense the rhetoric is there to knit a veil for international leaders.
Recently, Mr Ban said the actions of the junta are "abhorrent and unacceptable" and called for "bold action" on the generals' part to move towards democracy. But, the words will sink quickly without being forcefully backed by Mr Ban himself.
This is not the time to be overly fastidious in the interests of protocol or Realpolitik, or to protect the perceived dignity of the secretary-general's office. Our people are in grave danger. They and the world will forgive Mr Ban should he try hard and fall short. History will look more harshly on not trying at all.
As Mr Ban considers the moment, Burma drifts further and further away.
Thaung Htun is the United Nations representative for the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.
Canada-based Party Linked to Controversial Businessman -IRRAWADDY
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=14852
By THE IRRAWADDY Friday, December 26, 2008
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
E-MAIL
PRINT
TEXT SIZE
Burmese exiles were surprised to learn through an Internet newsgroup recently that the former chairman of the All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) has joined a new political party linked to a Canada-based businessman accused in the past of laundering drug profits for the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
According to widely read email messages circulating among Burmese exiles, former ABSDF chairman Htun Aung Gyaw recently joined the United Democratic Party of Myanmar (UDP), founded in Vancouver, Canada.
In response to the rumors, which include allegations that Htun Aung Gyaw, who is currently living in the United States, received US $50,000 to join the UDP, the party issued a statement saying that discussions between party leaders and the former ABSDF chairman were still at the “confidence-building” stage.
But the reports have raised further questions about the UDP itself. Burmese exiles living in Canada and the US say they don’t know what the party’s objectives are, and many wonder about the motives of the man seen as the driving force behind the party.
According to Burmese opposition sources in Canada, the UDP has no chairman, but is led by well-known Burmese businessman Kyaw Myint, a.k.a. Michael Hu Hwa.
Kyaw Myint’s company, NAH Development Group Inc, is involved in “energy, mineral, agriculture, building materials, finance and real estate industries,” according to its Web site, www.nahdg.com. The site also provides a contact address in Vancouver.
A former colonel in the UWSA—a group named by the US State Department as “the world’s largest armed narcotics-trafficking organization”—Kyaw Myint is a familiar name in Burmese business circles.
After the UWSA reached a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s ruling military junta in 1991, Kyaw Myint became the head of Myanmar Kyone Yeom Group, a Rangoon-based company with extensive interests in construction, mining, real estate and forestry.
In an article published by the now-defunct Asiaweek magazine in January 1998, Myanmar Kyone Yeom was accused of acting as a “money-washing machine” for the UWSA.
According to an article published in Jane’s Intelligence Review in November 1998, the company was blacklisted by the Burmese regime because “Michael Hu Hwa (a.k.a. Colonel Kyaw Myint), who claimed to be a deputy minister of finance for the UWSA, openly and brazenly flouted Burmese business laws and regulations.”
Soon after, the company was shut down and Kyaw Myint was imprisoned. He did not stay in prison for long, however, as he received help from some influential intelligence officers.
Kyaw Myint left Burma and appeared in Bangkok in 1999. From there, he relocated to the United States and then Canada—a move reportedly arranged by the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
He later set up United Democratic Party of Myanmar and began to recruit young activists, who received stipends and allowances, according to exiled Burmese sources in Vancouver. Kyaw Myint also reportedly financed some Burma-related conferences in Canada.
Burmese struggle to survive
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/burmese-struggle-to-survive/
December 26, 2008 · No Comments
Hla Hla Htay
The Friends of Newin faction has been lavishly pampered by the Democrat leadership to the extent that some Democrats feel belittled or disappointed.
Fisherman Htein Lin Aung, a father of three, says a new roof is out of the question as he fixes the engine of his boat beneath the tarpaulin covering of his bamboo tent outside the town of Kungyangon.
“We have been in difficulties since Nargis. The weather is also unusual now,” said Htein Lin Aung, 37, whose house was one of hundreds of thousands destroyed by the cyclone.
The storm left 138,000 people dead or missing and affected more than 2.5 million, while the Burmese military junta provoked outrage by initially hampering international aid efforts with red tape.
The military government relented after a visit from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. But rebuilding the southwestern Irrawaddy Delta, which suffered the brunt of the cyclone, is dragging on. continue http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=135590
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A Brother's Plea: Remember Burma-The Saffron Revolution must not be forgotten.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123025716276634733.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
By MIN ZIN
On Nov. 28 my brother, Thet Zin, a Burmese journalist brave enough to remain in his country, was sentenced to seven years in prison by the military junta there. His crime? Possession of a U.N. report about the military's crackdown on demonstrations by monks and democracy activists in September 2007 -- known around the world as the "Saffron Revolution."
He's not alone. In the past two months the junta has sentenced more than 230 political detainees to lengthy prison sentences, some as long as 68 years. The total number of political prisoners in Burma is now more than 2,100, up sharply from nearly 1,200 in June 2007, before last year's protests, according to Amnesty International and other human-rights groups.
The terrible irony is that when I tell my Burmese friends and colleagues about my brother's sentence the typical response is, "Only seven years?" How far we've fallen that we consider anything less than decades in prison to be somehow a blessing.
The Opinion Journal Widget
Download Opinion Journal's widget and link to the most important editorials and op-eds of the day from your blog or Web page.
My brother is the editor in chief of a weekly journal you've likely never heard of called the Myanmar Nation. On Feb. 15, the military raided his office and dragged him and his office manager, Sein Win Maung, away. They were eventually charged with crimes against the state under the regime's Printing and Publishing Law. All this for being in possession of a U.N. report widely available on the Internet.
Torture and interrogations followed. He was sent to Burma's notorious Insein prison. He nearly died there when Cyclone Nargis hit Burma in May, claiming more than 80,000 lives. Now he's facing a term in a filthy, disease-ridden prison that could result in his death.
The reality is that my brother did get a lighter sentence -- the maximum under the law which he was charged with violating. Nowadays, high-profile dissidents usually receive prison sentences from 20 to 70 years. Since November, the special courts held inside the Insein prison compound have rushed to complete the hearings against Burmese democracy activists, Buddhist monks, student leaders, ethnic minority youth, labor activists, journalists, poets, bloggers, and even comedians and musicians who were arrested during and after last year's peaceful protests.
These hearings and sentencing continue in the absence of their attorneys. Worse yet, three defense lawyers were imprisoned for between four and six months for contempt of court after transmitting their clients' complaints of an unfair trial. (Another defense lawyer convicted of contempt of court fled to the Thai border to evade arrest.) Four other defense lawyers were barred from representing their clients.
The military is immediately transferring those who receive sentences to prisons in remote areas. Earlier this month, my brother was sent to a prison in Kalay, 680 miles from his home in Rangoon in Burma's northwestern frontier -- far from all those who care about him.
The goal of such harsh punishments is clear: to eliminate potential opposition in the run-up to the 2010 election, which is the last step in the junta's "Seven-Point Roadmap to Democracy."
In Today's Opinion Journal
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
Obama's Secretary of EarmarksBridges to EverywhereStill Oklahoma's Most Wanted
TODAY'S COLUMNIST
Declarations: A Year for the Books
– Peggy Noonan
COMMENTARY
Obama Picks a Moderate on Education
– Collin LevyThe Economic News Isn't All Bleak – Zachary KarabellDonor Disclosure Has Its Downsides
– John R. Lott Jr. and Bradley SmithBush Is a Book Lover
– Karl RoveA Brother's Plea: Remember Burma
– Min ZinThe junta is mocking the U.N. Security Council, which issued a statement in October 2007 calling for the release of all political prisoners, including Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest. In response, 112 former presidents and prime ministers from more than 50 countries signed a letter this month urging U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to return to Burma for the first time since his visit after Cyclone Nargis and press for the release of political prisoners.
Indeed, Mr. Ban, who recently expressed his "disappointment" and "frustration" with progress in Burma, should go back and tell junta leader Gen. Than Shwe what he told the press not long ago -- that the "status quo ante is not acceptable and politically unsustainable," and that all political prisoners must be released by 2010.
Meanwhile, my brother and thousands of other political prisoners in Burma continue to languish behind bars. The world was watching during the "Saffron Revolution." Is it still?
Min Zin, a Burmese journalist in exile, is a teaching fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Journalism.
Posts
