Naypyidaw, 23 August 2022 (TDI): The European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO) support essential health services and critical life-saving assistance for the most vulnerable, including IDPs in the current humanitarian crises that have struck Myanmar.
EU and @WHO continue to support essential health services and critical life-saving assistance in Myanmar 🇲🇲 #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar https://t.co/iL7E4DJ7wL
— GIC Southeast Asia (@GermanyInSEAsia) August 23, 2022
Causes of the Humanitarian crises in Myanmar
1 February 2021, the coup de ’tat in Myanmar disposed of a democratically elected party. The Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces; Senior General Min, immediately invoked articles 417 and 418 of the constitution.
Its been more than a year of emergency and handing control of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government to the military.
As the Myanmar 2021 coup has entered five months into its second year, the humanitarian situation of the nation is of deep concern.
By 2022, the political and economic disorder in Myanmar drove almost half of the population, i.e., around 25 million individuals into poverty.
In addition to that, it is now estimated that 14 out of 15 states and regions are within the critical threshold for acute malnutrition.
The United Nations estimates that more than 14.4 million people require humanitarian assistance this year, including those in protracted displacement in the conflict-torn states of Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan.
Prices for key household commodities have risen significantly, making some food items unaffordable. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the already fragile healthcare system to collapse.
Monsoon floods in July and August have also affected more than 120,000 people, resulting in crop losses and contributing to food insecurity.
EU Response to the Crises
EU and WHO continue to support essential health services and critical life-saving assistance in Myanmar. In 2022, the EU allocated more than €27 million in humanitarian aid funding.
This was done to address the immediate needs of the most vulnerable, including displaced and conflict-affected communities.
According to the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, “the funding helps provide food, nutrition, clean water and sanitation, emergency preparedness, response, health, education, as well as protection, including mine education to those affected by conflict.”
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In response to the crises rising after the Covid-19 Pandemic, “the EU supports the provision of medical supplies and equipment, emergency referrals of displaced people and patients in pandemic-affected communities.”
The natural disasters over the past 2 decades have also been responded to by the European Union humanitarian response.
In mid-2020, the EU channeled €85,000 to support those affected by a deadly landslide in a jade mining community in northern Kachin. The regional response programme has reached 25,000 people in Rakhine, Kachin, and Shan.
