The Burmese military government has restricted the INGOs and the community based organizations from travelling freely and providing assistances to people in rural areas in Karenni(Kayah) State where there is little health care, and few development projects, according to a member of staff from the NGOs in Karenni State.
“The Burmese authority prevents us from helping people in these villages far away from the cities. The authority says that the rebels are operating in these areas and if anything happens, they will not take responsibility.” He said.
Although there are some clinics in these villages, there is a shortage of medicine, health education and access to medical treatment which need the assistances from NGOs and community based organizations.
During April and May, because of the lack of medicines and health workers, forty adults from the villages in Bawlake District developed chest infection that spread rapidly through the area. One woman from Shadaw died from diarrhoea because she was unable to get treatment. The diseases such as tuberculosis, diarrhoea, and skin diseases are commonly found in the remote areas, said a backpack medic from the Karenni relief team.
There is a strong presence of Burmese security troops in these areas, so it is very difficult for the Karenni medical relief teams based on the Thai-Burma border to provide medical aids to these villages. Khu Denial, the director of the Karenni Backpack Relief Team, said:
‘These villages are near military bases and close to the main road used by the Burmese troops, so it is very hard for us to enter these villages. The INGOs and NGOs that are based in Burma should be allowed free access to the rural areas that need help. The civil society groups from inside Karenni State want to travel to these areas, but the Burmese government stops them. These humanitarian organizations should have freedom to travel.”
The Burmese government claims that there is no peace and instability in the region and it has deployed large numbers of troops and checkpoints that make it hard for the Karenni relief teams to go and help the local villagers.
The organizations that are carrying out relief projects in the areas permitted by the government include INGOs such as Care Myanmar Action Aid, World Vision, UNDP, ACF and the local NGOs such as Nyein Foundation, and Metta Foundation. IN ADDITION THERE ARE community based organizations such as Kay Htoe Boe (KHB), Karuna, Kayahphu Baptist Association (KPBA) and KBA WHICH GO TO SOME OF the remote areas THAT can’t be reached by the INGOs.
