Myanmar (Burma)
Out of a total population of some 50 million, an estimated 30% live on less than $1 a day. Public investment in education and healthcare is amongst the lowest in the world. One in ten children dies before reaching their fifth birthday.
- We've built 220 children's centres, where 10,000 children each year aged between three and six can play and learn safely
- We've made micro-credit loans to 13,865 households, which will help 20,000 children
- We've provided a clean water supply and latrines which will benefit 11,000 children
Save the Children in Myanmar
We started work in Myanmar in 1995. Restrictions remain on access for international nongovernmental organisations. We focus on providing early years services for pre-school children, reducing the number of deaths from preventable diseases, helping those affected by HIV and AIDS and preventing children from being trafficked to work in neighbouring countries.
We're improving the care of young children
We've built 116 children and family centres, which will be used by some 5,000 children each year. We've formed and trained management committees for each centre and trained 602 local community members as teachers. The centres provide the children with a safe and caring environment where they can play and learn.
We're lifting children out of poverty
Many children drop out of school because their families cannot afford to keep them there. We provided micro-credit loans to 13,865 poor households on the outskirts of Yangon, which will improve the standard of living of more than 20,000 children.
We're promoting health and hygiene
In the rural areas, an estimated 34% of families live without toilets and a supply of drinkable water. Diarrhoea kills about 28,000 children each year.
We work in 600 villages in five townships to improve their communities' access to clean water and better sanitation facilities. Over the past year we've helped to repair latrines, or provided new ones, which will benefit 9,000 children from 108 communities. More than 2,000 children from 11 communities will benefit from 52 water points that we've either mended or installed new.
We're saving children's lives
Some 60,000 children in Myanmar die each year of preventable diseases.
We've been training community health volunteers since 2000. Last year in Minbu township, in central Myanmar, they treated 454 children under five for measles and the other common childhood diseases, as well as diarrhoea.
Find out more
- Download the Myanmar country brief (PDF 106KB)
- See the Photo story: Children in Myanmar
Myanmar related articles
- Friday 1 August 2008 Burma three months on: Food shortages and earning a living biggest challenge
- Burmese children and their families are still in need of international assistance to help rebuild their lives, three months after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country.
- Thursday 5 June 2008 Burma one month on: Aid getting through but thousands of children need help to rebuild their lives
- As families affected by Cyclone Nargis continue their struggle to recover from the disaster, Save the Children, one of the biggest aid agencies operating in Myanmar (Burma), is focusing its attention on getting children back to school.
- Tuesday 20 May 2008 Burma Cyclone: aid reaches the furthest corner of the cyclone zone
- A team from Save the Children has reached the western most tip of Burma's Irrawaddy delta, bringing aid to some of the people hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis.
- Saturday 17 May 2008 Burma Cyclone: Thousands of children will die from hunger within weeks unless reached by aid
- Thousands of young children in Burma will die within two to three weeks from hunger unless food reaches them soon, Save the Children says. Some children may already be dying from a lack of food in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.
- Saturday 17 May 2008 UK Foreign Minister visits aid workers in Burma
- The UK minister for Africa, Asia and the UN, Lord Malloch Brown, arrived in Burma this morning, visiting aid workers responding to the cyclone. Mr Brown spoke to Save the Children who have reached 120,000 people, including around 50,000 children.
