Diarrhea outbreak claims three lives

(DVB)–Outbreaks of severe diarrhea have continued in several towns in Burma, with hospitals now unable to cope with the upsurge in patient numbers and several deaths being reported.

Fresh outbreaks have occurred in Nyaung Lay Pin township in Bago division and Pakokku township in Magwe division.

“At our Nyaung Lay Pin hospital, patients have to be lined up on the corridors because the hospital is full up,” a local resident said.

“Up to last night, three people had died."

It is possible that the outbreak was caused by a combination of rising temperatures and people eating food contaminated by flies, said a retired local medical staff.

The illness has mainly affected poor people in Pakokku township, a local resident said.

"It is happening more among grassroots people as they are poor,” he said.

“They can't afford to drink clean water, and there is no electricity.”

A member of staff on duty at Pakokku said however that the situation was not dire.

Other outbreaks have been occurring in Rangoon, Mandalay, and some towns in Irrawaddy division.

The government’s health ministry has previously said it would publish details of the condition of the illness but so far there has been no report.

Reporting by Ahunt Phone Myat

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Sittwe Residents Suffer Water Shortage

Sittwe (Narinjara): Residents in Sittwe have been suffering from a shortage of water supplied by the municipality since the beginning of summer, said Daw Hla Tin, a leader in Rupa Wra Ward in Sittwe.

"We are now facing a critical condition with the shortage of water. We receive water for only two hours every four days, and it is distributed to all the households in Sittwe by the Municipal authority. It is a big problem for everyone in Sittwe because the supply of water is insufficient for all the people in our city," said Daw Hla. In Sittwe, the capital of Arakan State, there is a single reservoir pond named Kandawgyi that supplies water to the city. The reservoir was built by the British government in 1906 to supply water to the approximately 20,000 residents living in Sittwe at the time.

"As water is short in the pond, the officials reduced the number of times the water is supplied to the town. The pond is now unable to store water for all the people in our city because the population in Sittwe is now over 300,000. We people have to face such a water shortage problem every summer," Daw Hla added.

According to a local resident, many remote wards in Sittwe, including Kyi Pru Wra, Min Gan, Sat Rokya, Nazi Wra, and San Pya, have not received any water since summer started in Arakan.

A young girl from Min Gan said, "I heard water in Kandawgyi is short and the authority has saved water by decreasing the number of times water is supplied. Since then, people in our ward have not been receiving water. Now we use water from tube wells and well waters."

Women in some wards in Sittwe have to line up with water pots every day in the early morning near their local water wells to carry water to home for daily use.

A source from Sittwe said that due to the water shortage, some children from Kyi Pru Wra and Min Ga Wards are suffering from diarrhea but their families can not afford to take them to the hospital for treatment.

The Burmese military authority is aware of the water shortage that happens every summer in Sittwe, but has never tried to make upgrades to help meet the residents' water needs. Arakan State receives over 120 inches of rain every year during the rainy season, but due to poor infrastructure the state faces a water shortage every year during the dry season.

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Diarrhea Deaths Confirmed in Rangoon

By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News

Sources in Rangoon have confirmed that at least five people have died in an outbreak of diarrhea that hit Burma’s largest city just before the start of the Burmese New Year’s festival in mid-April.

Bae U Ma, a 12-year-old girl from a poor family living in Ward 44 of North Dagon Myothit Township, died on April 20 after contracting the disease earlier in the month, according to a neighbor. Neighbors also confirmed the death of an elderly woman in Ward 7 of the same township. Doctors said three other people had died in Thaketa Township’s Ward 4, where the outbreak was said to be under control.

“I successfully treated more than a dozen diarrhea patients in the past three weeks,” said a physician at a private clinic in Thaketa Township. “But the cases were particularly severe, requiring at least three days of treatment.”

There were also reports that three other patients had died in North Okkalapa Township, although these could not be independently confirmed. Local residents of the township said that there were hundreds of cases of diarrhea in North Okkalapa alone.

Other townships, including South and North Dagon Myothit, Thaketa, Dawbon and Thanlyin, have also reported significant numbers of people suffering from the disease.

No official announcement of the outbreak has been issued, although the Ministry of Health has released repeated warnings in the Burmese-language press instructing people to take precautions against the disease.

Authorities have also ordered the closure of roadside food stalls in areas affected by the outbreak, according to local residents.

Meanwhile, an official from the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy on Friday that there has also been a dramatic rise in the number of cases of diarrhea in the Irrawaddy delta over the past week.

“UNICEF and other medical agencies have learned of an estimated 100 diarrhea cases in 20 villages in Bogalay Township this week,” the UNICEF official said, adding that the number of cases has since decreased.

The official also said that UNICEF was aware of the outbreak in Rangoon and was working with government agencies to address the problem.

“We have been cooperating with government health officials in responding to the situation. We are providing drugs and equipment,” said the UNICEF official, who added that she was not authorized to make any further comment.

Despite growing concerns, the authorities have moved to prevent any news related to the outbreak from reaching the public.

“We cannot answer any questions because our senior officers have told us not to speak to the media about this issue,” a government health official from North Okkalapa Township said during a telephone conversation.

A Rangoon-based journalist who has been following news of the outbreak said that if the government did not provide detailed information soon, the situation could get “worse and worse, and then get out of control.”

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