Sanctions put health burden on neglected nation
International sanctions are harming the health of Myanmar's people and their plight will ease only with political change, a senior aid worker says.
But Frank Smithuis, the Myanmar head of mission for the medical humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres, believes that the military regime has to do more on health care.
'Myanmar is definitely suffering because of its political isolation,' he said. 'If you compare it with surrounding countries, clearly the health situation is not as it should be. Malaria, tuberculosis and Aids are preventable and treatable, but for that you need money.'
Dr Smithuis, visiting the charity's regional headquarters in Hong Kong, said HIV/Aids, malaria and tuberculosis were serious problems for the country of 42 million, yet international attention was minimal compared with surrounding countries. He said this was because of the developed world's belief that dealing with the junta was not politically correct.
Such a view was wrong and put the lives of people at risk, he said.
'If you agree with a certain government policy, that is one thing. But to then jump to the conclusion that the Government is not correct therefore we're also not going to give money to the population is a very strange combination,' he said.
Because of Myanmar's political isolation, it was given little of the humanitarian aid other nations in the region enjoyed. Fewer than 20 non-governmental organisations operate in Myanmar, compared with hundreds in Cambodia and Laos, each with less than a fifth of the population.
Myanmar receives US$1 (HK$7.8) per person per year in overseas development aid, while Cambodia gets US$45 and Laos US$65. Yet, the epidemics of HIV/ Aids and malaria were worse than in those countries. Dr Smithuis said no reliable statistics of infection rates existed, although a World Bank survey on HIV/Aids had estimated between 599,999 and 700,000 cases. A subsequent joint study by the United Nations and Myanmar's Government put the figure at 180,000, although Dr Smithuis believed it was higher. Still, this ranked Myanmar as the third-worst affected country in Asia.
With little international assistance to provide the costly drugs to fight the epidemic, a disastrous situation loomed.
'I am very worried that sanctions will not achieve their objectives and they may harm the people,' Dr Smithuis said. 'When it comes to HIV/Aids, clearly much more has to be done. More should be done by the Government with their own funds, but the international community should also do more.'
There was some hope. Recent signs from the military that it would offer political concessions to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi had prompted the European Union to earmark five million euros (HK$35.2 million) in aid and free drugs to tackle tuberculosis. Further change, such as Ms Suu Kyi's release from house arrest, would doubtless bring more help, as happened in Cambodia after democratic elections in 1992.
'It is changing slowly, but when you have diseases like Aids you don't want slow changes,' Dr Smithuis said.
Peter Kammerer is Foreign Editor of the South China Morning Post.
