3 ways UNICEF is supporting children in Myanmar
Violence and climate-related hazards have left families reeling. UNICEF is working with partners to respond.
More than three years into the crisis in Myanmar, children continue to bear a heavy burden of violence, mass displacement, and the near collapse of critical health and education systems.
Escalating attacks and clashes have displaced more than 3.2 million people, while also posing a significant challenge for humanitarian access and the delivery of vital aid. The threat to displaced families has been compounded by climate-related hazards including the devastating effects of cyclones and monsoon floods.
In conflict and disaster, children suffer first and suffer most. UNICEF is therefore focused on reaching the most vulnerable children, including those living in poverty, children with disabilities, and children living in camps and other displacement sites. Since the onset of the crisis, UNICEF has been reaching these children with life-saving support and critical services through an extensive and diverse network of partners.
Landmines
Escalating clashes in Myanmar have significantly increased the risk posed by landmines and explosive ordnance, resulting in a staggering 1,052 civilian casualties in 2023. In the first quarter of 2024, nearly 30 per cent of casualties recorded were children, continuing an alarming trend. Children are particularly vulnerable to landmines as they are less likely to recognize them and may be unaware of their dangers. The widespread deployment of explosive ordnance throughout the country means that children can encounter landmines practically anywhere, including near their homes, schools, playgrounds, and farming areas. Every step they take could be their last.
In 2023 alone, UNICEF reached nearly 140,000 people, including children, across Myanmar with mine risk prevention and response services including survivor assistance. Mine risk education sessions, backed with pamphlets and handbooks adapted in local languages, have also been scaled up across conflict areas.
Immunization
Routine vaccination coverage has dropped significantly across Myanmar since 2020 due to the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing conflict, undermining hard-won improvements in health services that had helped reduce child mortality. Myanmar is among the countries with the largest number of children who have not received any vaccinations (known as zero dose), posing a significant threat to their future well-being and adding strain to the already fragile health system.
The situation is particularly dire for underserved communities where immunization services were discontinued, with many displaced families simply unable to afford transportation to reach their nearest health facility to receive critical vaccinations.
UNICEF continues to support the strengthening of the routine immunization programme in Myanmar including by supporting catch-up vaccinations, securing adequate budgets, and setting up partnerships with civil society organizations in the most vulnerable areas. These collective efforts have resulted in a notable improvement in immunization coverage, particularly for the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine (DTP). Meanwhile, more than 800,000 adolescent girls received the human papilloma virus vaccines in 2023.
Education
Prolonged nationwide school closures and disruptions, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest and instability triggered by the ongoing conflict, have left around 4.5 million children in Myanmar with little or no access to learning. As a result, they are more likely to be exposed to grave violations and abuse, including being targeted in attacks, forcibly recruited into fighting, arbitrarily arrested and detained, and forced into early marriages.
The devastating effects of this loss of learning are not confined to children’s education and dreams for the future – they also pose a severe risk to the country’s socio-economic future. An entire generation faces significant challenges in acquiring the necessary skills and knowledge needed for a productive workforce, a reverberating effect that could be felt for years to come.
In 2023, thousands of volunteer teachers, educators and facilitators received training and support from UNICEF and our partners. Throughout the year, UNICEF reached more than 1.1 million children with learning services. UNICEF and partners continue to support children’s access to formal and non-formal education, and we work with partners and stakeholders to advocate with all parties to the conflict to respect, protect and safeguard access to education, and end all forms of occupation, targeting, and interference with education facilities, learners and staff, including teachers.
