UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, has responded to recent violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state by sending 2,000 dignity kits to assist women displaced by the disturbances.

Clashes between ethnic Rakhine Buddhists and Rohingya Muslims in the west of the country reportedly left at least a dozen civilians dead and hundreds of homes destroyed. In response, the Government declared a state of emergency there, and the UN temporarily relocated, on a voluntary basis, some of its staff based in the state.

On 15 June the office of UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Myanmar reported that over 30,000 people had been internally displaced in Rakhine state.

As part of the coordinated UN response to the crisis, the UNFPA Myanmar office provided 2,000 Dignity Kits to the Ministry of Relief, Resettlement and Social Welfare on 15 June to be distributed to vulnerable women, especially those who have become homeless and reside in camps in Buthidaung, Maungdaw and Sittwe.

Each kit contains essential items to meet women’s basic daily needs, ensure their health and well-being and preserve their dignity. The kits were sent to the Yangon airport for shipment to Sittwe.

UNFPA is also supporting the Myanmar Medical Association and Rakhine state health authorities in providing lifesaving maternal health care through static and mobile clinics in Rathedaung, southern Buthidaung. The Fund will soon provide additional reproductive health medicine, supplies and kits to meet the needs of the affected population in various parts of Rakhine state including Sittwe.

Read the full story at UNFPA Myanmar’s website.

For more information, please contact: 
Mohamed Abdel-Ahad, tel. +95 1 546 309, ahad@unfpa.org