Nearly a year since deadly inter-ethnic clashes in Rakhine state first broke out, conditions in displaced persons camps, combined with movement restrictions and ongoing segregation of Rakhine and Muslim communities, are severely impacting access to healthcare, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) today. An estimated 140,000 people are still living in makeshift camps. According to official estimates, the vast majority of the displaced are from a Muslim minority referred to as the Rohingya. The Rohingya are a stateless minority group, not recognized as citizens by the government of Myanmar.
As well as the displaced, tens of thousands of people still in their homes have been almost entirely cut off from health facilities, food, markets, their fields, and in some cases even clean water.
“MSF has just returned from areas where whole villages are cut off from basic services,” said Ronald Kremer, MSF emergency coordinator in Rakhine state. “We have seen that movement restrictions are having a detrimental impact on people’s health. This includes TB patients unable to access the treatment they need to stay alive, and pregnant women dying because they have nowhere safe to deliver.” (Courtesy of msf.ca)
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