WHO fears Myanmar disease outbreaks in wake of cyclone
Pastor Dale Morgan
WHO fears Myanmar disease outbreaks in wake of cyclone*
By MARGIE MASON
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; 10:55 AM
-- Disease outbreaks spread by mosquitoes, dirty water and poor
sanitation were among the World Health Organization's biggest concerns
after a devastating cyclone hit Myanmar, home to one of the world's
shoddiest health care systems.
WHO was waiting Tuesday for permission from the country's ruling junta
to send in medical teams but demolished infrastructure would likely
hamper early efforts, said Vismita Gupta-Smith, spokeswoman for WHO's
regional office in New Delhi.
"The communications are broken down and the roads are not operational,"
she said. "But the officers are on the ground and are ready for rapid
assessment, surveillance and mobilization."
Teams will work to prevent mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, as
well as diarrhea and other outbreaks that can spread quickly in the wake
of natural disasters because of a lack of clean water and sanitation.
Major concerns also include respiratory illnesses among children forced
to sleep outside and injuries suffered during the storm, Gupta-Smith said.
WHO was waiting for Myanmar's military leaders to request aid from a
regional emergency fund the U.N. agency set up last year to fill the
time gap between international donors' pledges and the actual arrival of
aid. About $175,000 would be available right away, she said.
Officials said the death toll from the weekend storm could climb higher
than the tens of thousands already feared dead. Up to 1 million people
may be homeless, the World Food Program said.
The cyclone ripped down power lines and destroyed roads and homes. Fuel
shortages and a lack of food and clean water have worsened the situation
in some areas, said UNICEF spokeswoman Shantha Bloemen in Bangkok, the
capital of neighboring Thailand.
She said it would likely take two or three days to assess the damage.
UNICEF planned to distribute water purification tablets, mosquito nets
and health kits, while also responding to food shortages in a country
where millions go hungry during the best of times and about one in three
children is malnourished.
An estimated 90 percent of people in Myanmar live on just $1 a day. In
2000, WHO ranked its overall health care system as the world's
second-worst after war-ravaged Sierra Leone.
Most people are too poor to afford hospital visits so thousands instead
risk their lives each year to travel to a clinic at a border town in
Thailand where free treatment is offered.
Several humanitarian agencies, including the French arm of Doctors
Without Borders, have pulled out of the Southeast Asian country in
recent years due to travel restrictions and tight government control.
Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962 and the junta has been
widely criticized for large-scale human rights abuses and suppression of
pro-democracy parties. In September the military crushed peaceful
protests led by Buddhist monks and pro-democracy activists, killing at
least 31 people and leading to the arrest of thousands more.
____
Margie Mason covers medical issues for The Associated Press across the
Asia-Pacific. She is based in Hanoi, Vietnam.