Displaced people from Myanmar walk along the Moei river on the border with Thailand after fleeing their villages following clashes between the military and rebel groups in Myawaddy in March 2022/Photo:AFP
Mizzima
Humanitarian efforts in Myanmar during 2023 faced severe hindrances due to access constraints and bureaucratic impediments, with at least 142 arrests and detentions of aid workers reported, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA).
The UNOCHA, in its end-of-year report on humanitarian responses in Myanmar during 2023 said that humanitarian actors used a range of approaches to reach at least 3.2 million people with assistance at least once.
The UNOCHA said that it is also likely that actual reach is higher due to underreporting of assistance in conflict areas but this remains difficult to quantify. While the number of people reached is substantial in the circumstances, this reach falls short of the envisioned depth and sustainability due to substantial underfunding, resulting in an unprecedented level of unmet needs with 1.8 million people missed.
In 2023, while collective endeavours managed to reach 3.2 million people out of 5 million people targeted with some form of assistance, this support was not as deep or sustained as intended, according to the UNOCHA. Oftentimes, people have only been reached once and with one form of support (frequently food), instead of a full package of different types of aid that meet the full spectrum of their needs, leaving significant gaps among those reached. The 1.8 million people targeted for assistance who were not reached at all was due to severe under-funding and access constraints.
An additional 12.6 million people with some level of humanitarian need were not prioritized for assistance in 2023, falling outside the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) target, and thus also have ongoing unmet needs that development actors have not been able to address.
The UNOCHA said that these funding shortfalls and related response gaps – now repeated over successive years since the military takeover – are having cascading impacts from one year to the next. As a result, not only has the absolute number of people in need been consistently increasing from 1 million in 2021, prior to the military takeover, to 14.4 million people in 2022, 17.6 million people in 2023 to 18.6 million people in 2024 (the fifth highest in the world), but simultaneously, the severity of their needs has significantly worsened.
The UNOCHA has listed four impacts of underfunding in Myanmar. They are:
Preventable death and prolonged suffering – Underfunding directly increases the risk of lost lives, particularly among vulnerable children suffering from acute malnutrition and people denied access to critical health services.
An escalating health crisis: With a large portion of the population deprived of essential health services, preventable diseases are likely to escalate, posing a severe threat to public health and well-being with potential regional consequences.
Stunted development and lost opportunity: Educational and developmental opportunities for children are being stifled, perpetuating a cycle of disadvantage and hampering the nation’s long-term growth and stability.
Increased vulnerability: The underfunding and subsequent response gaps amplify the vulnerability of already marginalized communities, exposing them to heightened risks of exploitation, abuse, and displacement.
During 2024, nearly 2 million people are expected to fall into the highest category of needs severity (catastrophic), whereas over the past two years, only a small number fell into this category (151,000 in 2022 and none in 2023).
The UNOCHA says that nearly three years since the military takeover, the crisis in Myanmar risks becoming a forgotten emergency with catastrophic implications for the well-being of millions of people and for regional security if 2023 funding levels are repeated in 2024. The situation demands immediate attention and increased international support to address the humanitarian and development challenges faced by the civilian population.
Donors play a pivotal role in mitigating the human cost of this emergency and the longer-term crisis facing the country and humanitarians are requesting a record $994 million in 2024 to support 5.3 million people with life-saving assistance.
In addition to increased humanitarian funding towards this plan, urgent funding for complementary development action is also required to reverse the growth in humanitarian need and build the resilience of communities in the face of persistent shocks.
Increased advocacy is needed to bridge the funding gaps, protect lives, and secure a sustainable future for Myanmar. The lives of millions are at stake, and a unified effort is essential to raise the profile of the crisis, addresses critical gaps in the response and provide a lifeline to those in desperate need, according to the UNOCHA.
As of 31 January 2024, funding against the 2023 Myanmar Humanitarian Response Plan had reached $324 million which is only 37 per cent of the requested funding, leaving a significant $563 million funding gap.
Urgent attention and a substantial increase in financial support for both humanitarian and development actors are imperative to bridge this gap in 2024, says the UNOCHA.
