There's a lot going on in Burma these days, from a possible ceasefire between the government and the Karen National Union (KNU), to the release of political prisoners, to Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi running for parliament in Rangoon. It's a time of exciting but cautious promise, as we wait to see what change takes.
I have a short article over at RH Reality Check about how families in the particularly ravaged area of eastern Burma are experiencing both the political transformation and the very long legacy of human rights abuses. I'm drawing from the significant new report, "Separated by Borders," which details why this region has the worst pregnancy outcomes in all of Asia. Access to contraception is virtually nonexistent, and maternal mortality is extremely high -- in part the consequence of the military policy of denying certain ethnic groups healthcare, though there is more than that to the story. I'll be digging deeper into this via an extended interview with one of the doctors on the ground in eastern Burma that will appear eventually in Guernica.
Image Credit: Alisa Tang
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