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Burma's old foes



Burma's old foes

By Juan Aguilar Leon

February 12, 2000
>From Asian Age Newspaper (New Delhi)

Rangoon: As Unicef celebrates 50 years of continuous presence in Burma,
the forces governing the state of isolation and underdevelopment are so
enormous that small victories in saving children and women from
preventable diseases and death are frequently overcome by old and new
foes.

The problems faced by Burma's children and women are directly concerned
with their unfulfilled rights and needs. Too many children and women
still die from preventable diseases and malnutrition. Of the first
birthday and 138,000 before age five. Many more become ill from acute
respiratory infections, diarrhoeal diseases, tuberculosis or malaria.
More than a third of children under five are malnourished.

Aids threatens large and increasing segments of the population.
Prevalence rates are determined according to the number of patients
visiting official health centres, and so are likely to be underreported,
but UN data indicate the Aids is a major health problem. Transmission
from mother to foetus is now a matter of serious concern. Pregnancy and
giving birth remain life-threatening tasks for many women, particularly
those residing in rural areas.
Estimates vary form 100 to 580 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births.
More than a third of the deaths occur in government facilities, as most
are ill-equipped to provide timely referral or adequate emergency
obstetric care to ensure safe delivery. Many women also die form
complications associated with unsafe abortions.

The vast majority of all these deaths and illnesses are due to
inappropriate or inadequate care and knowledge, most frequently stemming
form insufficient resources on the part of households and national
authorities.

Recent successes show that it is possible to achieve major goals for
children in Burma when there is good cooperation among different actors,
when technical and financial resources are available and when the
parents, children and communities involved participate actively.

Were the government of Burma and the international community not to act
decisively, entire generations of children would be condemned to live in
poverty and despair. Not acting is both ethically and morally
unacceptable.

Burma's government needs to strengthen its mechanisms for protecting and
enforcing the rights of vulnerable children and women, as well as
substantially improve the quality and quantity of social services
available to them. Unicef will continue to assist in pursuing these
objectives. But Unicef, other UN agencies and non-governmental
organizations need unambiguous support from the international community.

Perhaps Unicef's major contribution is to renew our commitment to the
cause of children, striving to place their highest interests and rights
above any political consideration and arguing once more for an
unattached and generous flow of the most needed humanitarian assistance.

Juan Aguilar Leon is the Unicef representative in Burma
By arrangement with the International Herald Tribune