Support Backpack Healthworker Teams in Burma

Back Pack Health Worker Team — Mid-Year Impact Report 2025

Delivering Lifesaving Care to Conflict-Affected Communities in Burma/Myanmar

(Reporting period: January–June 2025)

Overview

For over 25 years, the Back Pack Health Worker Team (BPHWT) has brought lifesaving healthcare to people living in conflict and remote regions of Burma/Myanmar—communities cut off from formal medical services. In 2025, BPHWT’s 120 mobile teams served a target population of 318,666 people across 21 field areas, providing a critical safety net for displaced and vulnerable families in Karen, Karenni, Mon, Arakan, Chin, Shan, and Kachin States, and other regions.

Despite worsening insecurity, airstrikes, and forced displacement, BPHWT health workers continued to treat patients, educate communities, and protect mothers and children with extraordinary courage and resilience.

Health Services Delivered

Between January and June 2025, BPHWT health teams:

• Treated 53,727 patients, including 9,807 children under five.

• Delivered emergency care for war injuries, malaria, respiratory infections, diarrheal disease, and hypertension, among the top illnesses seen.

• Provided 511 emergency referrals, including 169 obstetric emergencies (EmOC).

• Conducted 183 lifesaving operations through partner clinics.

• Delivered maternal and child health services to thousands of mothers and newborns, including family planning and antenatal care.

Community Health and Prevention

Through the Community Health Education and Prevention Program (CHEPP), BPHWT helped communities strengthen health from within:

• Installed 2 gravity flow water systems, 2 shallow wells, and 100 latrines, giving over 1,500 people access to safe water and sanitation.

• Provided 80 household water filters to vulnerable families.

• Reached 41,899 students in 407 schools with hygiene education and kits.

• Delivered Vitamin A supplements to 38,883 children and de-worming medicine to 35,512 children—helping prevent malnutrition and infection.

• Conducted 97 nutrition awareness workshops for 2,800 participants, focusing on infant and young child feeding (IYCF) and maternal nutrition.

Women and Children First

Women make up the majority of BPHWT’s workforce—75% of all members, including 620 trained traditional birth attendants. Through the Maternal and Child Health Program, teams provided emergency obstetric care, family planning, and safe deliveries under extreme conditions, ensuring that mothers and babies receive the care they deserve even in hiding sites and IDP camps.

Security and Humanitarian Context

Conflict has intensified across Burma/Myanmar since the 2021 coup, with airstrikes, arbitrary shelling, and forced conscription driving millions from their homes. In the first half of 2025 alone, BPHWT documented mass displacement across Kayah, Karen, Kachin, Chin, and Shan States. Many families now shelter in jungles without clean water or food.
Health workers face grave risks—airstrikes, landmines, and roadblocks—but continue to deliver care, often traveling by foot or boat to reach isolated communities.

Special Challenges

A major funding gap following reductions in international aid (including USAID support) has created critical shortages of medicines, transport, and stipends for health workers. Clinics have been forced to operate with minimal supplies, while demand for trauma and maternal care continues to rise.
BPHWT urgently calls for renewed donor support to sustain these frontline teams and prevent a collapse of the community-based health system that ethnic communities rely on.

Impact Snapshot (Jan–Jun 2025)

Looking Ahead

BPHWT remains steadfast in its mission to bring health and hope to those living beyond the reach of formal care. In the coming months, priorities include:

• Expanding emergency response and referral systems.

• Replenishing medical supply chains through cross-border partners.

• Continuing nutrition, maternal health, and psychosocial programs for displaced families.

• Training new village health volunteers to strengthen community resilience.

Your Support Saves Lives

Every contribution to BPHWT helps deliver medicines, fund emergency referrals, and sustain the courageous health workers serving Burma’s most vulnerable communities. Your generosity ensures that even amid war, health care continues to reach those who need it most.