Adults and children in Myanmar's northern
Sagaing district have both been struck since the first outbreak of the disease
emerged in June, a local MP said ©Ye Aung Thu (AFP/File)
An
undiagnosed disease has killed more than 30 children in a remote part of
Myanmar, officials said Thursday, with health authorities struggling to treat
victims.
The
illness, with measles-like symptoms, has hit the far corner of Myanmar's
northern Sagaing region, a remote and mountainous area which borders eastern
India and is populated by people from the Naga tribes.
Adults
and children have both been struck since the outbreak first emerged in June, a
local MP said, but the illness appears to be particularly deadly to children
under the age of five.
"Altogether
23 children were have been killed in Lahal township and 13 killed in Nan Yon
township since June because of this unknown disease," Law Yon, a regional
MP from Naga self-administrative region told AFP.
"Rashes
came out on their bodies, they have a fever and difficulty breathing because of
coughing. Blood also comes out while coughing," he said.
Some 200
people so far have come down with the disease, he said, adding that central
authorities have been slow to react.
A health
ministry official in the capital Naypyidaw confirmed the outbreak, including
more than 30 deaths, and said tests were being carried out.
"We
assume at an initial stage it's a measles outbreak or strong influenza. But we
can definitely say only when we get the result from laboratory," the
official said, requesting anonymity.
The
outbreak highlights how vulnerable Myanmar's more remote populations are in a
country where healthcare was never prioritised under decades of brutal and
inept junta rule.
It is one
of the many crippling legacies that the newly installed civilian government of
Aung San Suu Kyi is trying to tackle.
Although
budgets slightly increased in the last few years of outright army rule -- which
ended with last November's elections -- Myanmar is still one of the lowest
spenders on healthcare as a share of GDP.
According
to the latest World Bank figures health spending increased from 0.2 percent to
just over 1 percent of GDP from 2009 to 2013 despite being one of the world's
fastest growing economies.
In
contrast 4.3 percent of GDP in 2014 went to the military, according to the
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
AFP
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