Myanmar
Marie Stopes International Myanmar (MSIM) has been committed to providing sexual and reproductive health services and education to local communities for over ten years and is the only NGO within the country to offer these vital services.
Through its networks of 16 centres, MSIM offers community outreach and comprehensive health services such as: the pill, injectables, IUDs and condoms. Most of the centres in Myanmar are located in poor urban areas and are supported by a wide network of village-based health workers. This means that the most vulnerable and marginalised communities can access the information and services which MSIM provides.
Continuing to increase access to centres is one of the main aims of the Myanmar program, with six new centres opened in 2007 alone and a further eight planned. Even before the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, geopolitical changes continued to make it extremely difficult for families in Myanmar to afford and have access to basic healthcare services. An irregular and limited supply of contraceptives has compounded this problem, drastically restricting contraceptive choices and preventing continuous, appropriate contraceptive use. As a consequence of this environment, the demand for reproductive health services and education is immense; one in six women living in Myanmar wants to use contraception but cannot. In addition to centre services and outreach programs, a European Community-funded regional voluntary and confidential HIV counselling and testing project has been one of our most successful undertakings in 2007.
As one of only two international non-government organisations approved to provide voluntary HIV testing within Myanmar, Marie Stopes plays a major role in reducing the spread of the epidemic. Currently, MSIM is working on an advocacy base project within the public sector to increase the quality of integrated, client-friendly SRH services, including maternal care, post abortion care, conselling and a full range of contraceptives.
There is a large Internally Displaced Population (IDP) within Myanmar, especially after the Cyclone Nargis disaster. MSIM is working to increase ante natal care, family planning, post abortion care, HIV / AIDS conselling and testing, STI prevention and treatment, and clincial reponse to victims of gender-based violence within IDPs.
Continuing its focus on vulnerable populations, MSIM is working with the United Nations Population Fund to provide Adolescent Reproductive Health Services, with eight centres having integrated specialist adolescent SRH servcies and drop-in community facilities.