Skip to main content
HIV Co-Infection Clinic - Yangon
The military’s seizure of power in Myanmar in February 2021 left the public healthcare system in disarray, threatening millions of people’s ability to access healthcare.

MSF teams continue to care for HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis C patients, provide basic healthcare and reproductive and sexual healthcare services, and to respond to medical emergencies.

We pioneered HIV treatment in Myanmar – at one point becoming the largest provider of antiretrovirals in the country – and steadily grew a large patient cohort. In 2015, we began working with the Ministry of Health to transfer patients to the decentralised National AIDS Programme, so people can receive care closer to home. This has been suspended since the military seized power, and we are now seeing those patients return to us in greater numbers at our clinics in Shan, Kachin and Tanintharyi.

Despite restrictions on humanitarian access to conflict-affected areas, we have mobile teams based in Sittwe and Maungdaw in Rakhine state, who offer basic healthcare. They also arrange emergency referrals for patients from all communities, including those forcibly detained in camps.

Our activities in 2023 in Myanmar

Data and information from the International Activity Report 2023.

MSF in Myanmar in 2023 As the conflict in Myanmar entered its third year post the military takeover, Médecins Sans Frontières scaled up assistance to displaced people and filled essential gaps in healthcare.
Myanmar IAR map 2023

Violence escalated at the end of October in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states, displacing an additional 660,000 people and exacerbating the already severe healthcare needs. People struggled to access care, as hospitals ceased to function following attacks or evacuations, and the warring parties imposed travel restrictions on people and humanitarian organisations.

In response, our teams in Kachin and Shan provided medical support and distributed relief items, such as hygiene and cooking kits, to displaced people. We also increased sexual and reproductive health services and support for victims of sexual violence in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine.

Until November, our mobile teams in Sittwe district, Rakhine, conducted outpatient consultations in remote areas where healthcare is scarce or non-existent, or inaccessible due to cost or restrictions on movement. We also identified patients in need of specialised care and supported them with the referral process. This process is particularly challenging for Rohingya people, as they are contained in fenced camps or villages and require permission from the authorities to move around.

When the escalation in conflict prevented our teams from running mobile clinics for the last two months of the year, patients relied heavily on our community health workers and teleconsultations for medical care.

Meanwhile, we extended our support to Aung San tuberculosis (TB) hospital in the capital, Yangon, where almost 50 per cent of the country’s patients with drug-resistant TB receive care.

During 2023, we continued the handover of our HIV patients to the Ministry of Health, switching our focus to supporting the national AIDS programme with staff and technical assistance.

In May, after Cyclone Mocha made landfall in Rakhine state, causing widespread damage to homes and infrastructure, we delivered medical care to the people affected. We also conducted water and sanitation activities, which included repairing latrines, distributing hygiene items and trucking in clean water.

 

In 2023
 
Yangon COVID-19 treatment centre at Aung San Tuberculosis Hospital
Myanmar

Responding to COVID-19 during political crisis in Myanmar

Voices from the Field 30 Dec 2021
 
Ma Sabai waiting for appointment
Myanmar

Myanmar: Political turmoil threatens HIV care

MSF Asia Pacific. 1 Dec 2021
 
HIV Co-Infection Clinic - Yangon
Myanmar

All parties must ensure unimpeded access to healthcare in Myanmar

Press Release 28 May 2021
 
Closure of Yangon HIV project
Myanmar

MSF concerned for welfare of healthcare workers and people in Myanmar

Statement 17 Feb 2021
 
Closure Insein Clinic, Yangon Myanmar - Minzayar Oo - June 2019
Myanmar

MSF hands over long-running HIV project in Yangon to ministry of health

Project Update 10 Sep 2020
 
Malawi - Advanced HIV
HIV/AIDS

AIDS death toll stagnating due to lack of testing at community level

Press Release 1 Dec 2019