Lack of public health-care deprives many Rachine people with skin diseases from unclean drinking water medical treatment Rakhine state

“Mass medical supplies from international health organizations urgently needed in Rakhine State”

Narinjara News, February 9, 2023

In The Khon village on Myay Ngu island in Rakhine State's Pauktaw Township, some villagers including children, are suffering from skin diseases due to unclean drinking water. But they have no opportunity to receive proper medical treatment.

“The main reason why skin diseases are common, is because of unclean water. Many people, including children suffer from these diseases. The lesions on their bodies itch. Because they are poor, they cannot afford medical treatment”, a village elder said.

Currently, the Arakan Army (AA) and the Military Council maintain a temporary ceasefire in Rakhine State, but city-based government health workers do not want to provide health care in

rural areas, due to security concerns. AA also cannot provide healthcare in every village; hence

many villagers have no access to medical treatment.

“As a consequence of the armed conflicts, the public healthcare system is non-existent in manny parts of Rakhine State. In our State, which is already poor and only has groggy health services, the situation is now worse than ever”, a local “Good Samaritan” told Narinjara.

Therefore it is essential that the vacuums in the healthcare sector should be filled by the intervention of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Committee of the

Red Cross (ICRC) as well as the United Nations (UN), he added.

The Khon village administrator commented. “Scabies-like skin diseases are common in the village. Some have fluid oozing from their lesions. The main cause is unclean water. Due to destitution, wells cannot be dug properly. When the villagers get sick, they don’t have enough money for treatment. If the international community would give us help, we would be very

happy.”

The Khon is a large fishing village with about 400 households and a population of about 1900.

In October last year, all the ponds in the village were flooded with seawater due to a storm. So that resulted in salty water from artesian wells around the village. Relying on such saline water for drinking and general use has adversely affected the health of the villagers.

The village administrator commented “The water is quite salty. This year outbreaks of skin disease have increased more than normal, because of unclean water. Students and children are now getting scabies. In the past, children did not experience that. Now both children and adults have been suffering from skin diseases for 2 or 3 months.”

A 25-year-old woman from the village said that some girls don’t even dare to go out of their

homes, due to the bad condition of their skin and many rashes.

“In the early stages, scabies-like spots appear on the skin. Then the rashes emerge. The rashes accumulate in one place on the skin, and then spread quickly. I went to a clinic in Sittwe, and they gave me medicine and ointment, but it didn’t help. The occurrence of such skin diseases is closely linked to unclean water,” she said.

Some people suffering from skin diseases have been buying and using ointments from the city,

and a few of them are getting better, but the condition of many others is not improving.