Internally displaced people (IDPs) in central Myanmar are facing malnutrition and other health problems as assistance from donors both in Myanmar and abroad dwindles, according to IDP support groups.
Huge numbers of civilians in Magwe and Sagaing have been displaced. The situation became acute in 2022 when the junta and its allied militia ramped up arson attacks and airstrikes on villages in these regions, which are anti-regime resistance strongholds. Myanmar junta troops and allied Pyu Saw Htee militia frequently conduct raids in the regions, torching villages and killing civilians. Furthermore, whenever the soldiers face shortages of food, they loot civilians’ property. Therefore, the villagers do not dare return home and have been sheltering in forests and along riverbanks, or fleeing to towns in safer areas, according to the volunteers.
Ko Nay Min Khant, a representative of the Shwebo Township support group, said IDPs in Wetlet Township needed food and medicine. The group is a charity organization supporting IDPs in some townships in Sagaing and Mandalay regions.
The group provided medical treatment to IDPs in four villages in Wetlet Township, Inn Daung, Thae Boat Gyi, Yoar Thit and Shane Makar villages on March 8 and 9. Around 400 civilians were treated by the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) health workers but the mission had to be halted due a shortage of medicines, Ko Nay Min Khant said.
“We agreed to provide field treatment in other villages but we have run out of medicine,” Ko Nay Min Khant told The Irrawaddy.
As it’s now summer in Myanmar, villagers are suffering illnesses due to the severe hot weather, as the region is in the country’s dry zone and living conditions are poor. They live in small huts covered by tarpaulin and straw. The health condition of children and elderly IDPs in Wetlet Township has deteriorated since last year, he said.
“The number of malnourished people is increasing,” Ko Nay Min Khant told The Irrawaddy.
In Wetlet Township, more than 2,000 people have been displaced in the last seven months. Last year, the group distributed food to the IDPs as well as such necessities as bamboo, tarpaulin and clothes, but they haven’t been able to deliver such items this year due to a lack of donations.
“Some elderly people asked us for food when we went there to provide field treatment. They are living in small huts in hot weather in a situation where there is not enough food,” Ko Nay Min Khant said of the IDPs in Wetlet Township.
In Sagaing, over 1.1 million people have been displaced by fighting and junta military activity including clearance operations, airstrikes, arson and ambush attacks, and many townships are under attack for months at a time, according to a report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in March. In Sagaing, food and other essential relief items are needed for more than 55,000 IDPs in numerous townships including Indaw, Katha, Mawleik, Myaung, Tamu, Tigyaing, Ye-U and Yinmarbin, UNOCHA reported.
However, the volunteers said that thousands of IDPs in other townships also need assistance, adding that they are totally reliant on donations from people at home and abroad.
The People’s Administration bodies of the National Unity Government support IDPs but are not able to cover all their needs, said a representative of Pale Township People’s Administration.
“The IDPs are facing a shortage of food, and their health is deteriorating after sheltering in the forest for a long time,” he told The Irrawaddy.
The volunteers are also struggling to cope with a situation in which the number of IDPs is increasing while donors are decreasing, said a representative of the volunteer group We Love Myaing of Magwe Region. The Myanmar military and Pyu Saw Htee militia members frequently raid villages in Myaing Township.
A representative of We Love Myaing told The Irrawaddy the group is often overwhelmed by the sheer number of civilians fleeing junta raids.
“We sometimes have to borrow money from friends to help them,” the volunteer said.
