Mosquito menace | Astrid Zweynert

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Astrid Zweynert

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The challenge of healthcare in remote communities in Myanmar. Click on the images to read more

Burmese farmworker Ka Lar Nar is happy because he has just recovered from malaria - for the sixth time. But this time it was harder to get rid of it, a possible sign of drug resistance to the mosquito-borne disease.

Plantation worker Pho La Lone is waiting with his son to be tested for malaria in Ta Gay Laung village hall in Kayin state, a remote area in the south near the border with Thailand.

Myanmar has become the new frontier in the fight against drug-resistant malaria, one of the biggest threats to global health.

Health workers are working closely with villagers to stop the mosquito-borne disease from spreading.

They use rapid diagnostic tests by taking blood samples that are sent to a lab and can establish within days whether a person has malaria.

Access to health care in Ta Gay Laung village has improved since a 2012 ceasefire with the Karen National Union paved the way for government health workers to reach remote areas once riven by armed conflict.

Ed Marta, a doctor at the Karen Department of Health and Welfare, hopes increased cooperation will improve Myanmar's chances of stopping the spread of drug-resistant malaria.

This malaria patient had just started a treatment course.

If drug resistance were to spread from Asia to Africa, as it has done in the past, it could wipe out massive gains in the global fight against malaria and threaten millions of lives.

Children under five like Thun Thet, the son of Lone, are at particular risk from malaria.

Globally, malaria claims a child's life every two minutes.

The monthly malaria testing sessions are very popular with the villagers.

© 2018 by Astrid Zweynert

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