Resource information
Abstract:
"Decades of neglect and abuses by the Burmese government have decimated the health of the
peoples of Burma, particularly along her eastern frontiers, overwhelmingly populated by
ethnic minorities such as the Shan. Vast areas of traditional Shan homelands have been
systematically depopulated by the Burmese military regime as part of its counter-insurgency
policy, which also employs widespread abuses of civilians by Burmese soldiers, including
rape, torture, and extrajudicial executions. These abuses, coupled with Burmese government
economic mismanagement which has further entrenched already pervasive poverty in rural
Burma, have spawned a humanitarian catastrophe, forcing hundreds of thousands of ethnic
Shan villagers to flee their homes for Thailand. In Thailand, they are denied refugee status
and its legal protections, living at constant risk for arrest and deportation. Classified as
“economic migrants,” many are forced to work in exploitative conditions, including in the
Thai sex industry, and Shan migrants often lack access to basic health services in Thailand.
Available health data on Shan migrants in Thailand already indicates that this population
bears a disproportionately high burden of infectious diseases, particularly HIV, tuberculosis,
lymphatic filariasis, and some vaccine-preventable illnesses, undermining progress made by
Thailand’s public health system in controlling such entities. The ongoing failure to address
the root political causes of migration and poor health in eastern Burma, coupled with the
many barriers to accessing health programs in Thailand by undocumented migrants,
particularly the Shan, virtually guarantees Thailand’s inability to sustainably control many
infectious disease entities, especially along her borders with Burma.
