Myanmar is experiencing a prolonged and multifactorial health crisis shaped by political instability, armed conflict, population displacement, economic decline, and recurrent climate-related shocks.1 These overlapping pressures have produced a health emergency that is no longer episodic but structural. Their cumulative effects are placing the country’s formal health system under increasing strain and deepening existing vulnerabilities across the health sector.

The humanitarian burden in Myanmar has escalated to include nearly one-third of the population (19.9 million people), with the disintegration of health infrastructure resulting in widespread deficiencies in essential life-saving care. ² Longstanding inequities in immunization coverage, maternal health service utilization, and geographic access to care are well documented.^2,3 Ongoing conflict has further exacerbated these disparities. The national vaccination program has struggled to reach children across large parts of the country, and overall vaccine coverage fell below 50% in 2021.⁵ These gaps are compounded by a severe shortage of health-care workers and widespread disruption of routine services, with disproportionate consequences for pregnant women, children, and people living with chronic illness.

At the same time, shifts in humanitarian financing are placing additional strain on an already fragile system. ⁶ International funding cuts have compelled local actors to rely on improvised and adaptive approaches to sustain essential services. Donor frameworks increasingly prioritize short-term, measurable outputs over service continuity and system strengthening. As a result, preventive services are quietly scaled back, with displaced communities and young children bearing the greatest burden.

Global health discourse increasingly emphasizes climate resilience and pandemic preparedness. Myanmar exposes a fundamental contradiction in these agendas. Climate resilience cannot be built where foundational primary health care functions are deteriorating. Universal health coverage depends on routine immunization, maternal care, chronic disease management, and a protected health workforce. Health security requires integrated surveillance and laboratory capacity that transcend political and administrative divides. Systems already operating under severe resource constraints have limited capacity to accommodate further shifts in global health financing toward climate priorities.

What Myanmar requires now is not another cycle of emergency response, but a reorientation of global health financing and governance. International governments, donors, and multilateral institutions must recognize that neglecting primary health care in fragile and conflict-affected settings is not a neutral choice. It actively undermines universal health coverage, health security, and climate resilience. Sustained investment is needed to protect health workers, restore routine services, and support community-led and cross-border health systems that continue to operate beyond formal administrative control. Without long-term, flexible financing and sustained engagement with community-based health-care providers, Myanmar’s health system risks remaining confined to crisis management rather than recovery and long-term resilience.

References

1. United Nations Development Programme. Myanmar’s Enduring Polycrisis: Four Years into a Tumultuous Journey. Yangon: UNDP Myanmar; 2025.
2. UNICEF Myanmar. Humanitarian Situation Report No. 10 (Reporting Period: 1 January to 31 December 2024). Yangon: UNICEF; 2025 Feb 21.
3. Myint ANM, Liabsuetrakul T, Htay TT, Wai MM, Sundby J, Bjertness E. Inequity in the utilization of antenatal and delivery care in Yangon region, Myanmar: a cross-sectional study. Int J Equity Health 2018; 17(1): 63.
4. Lwin KS, Ghaznavi C, Win KL, Gilmour S, Hashizume M, Nomura S. Myanmar's coup risks a flood of vaccine-preventable disease. J Glob Health 2022; 12: 03060.
5. World Health Organization. Regional Office for South-East Asia. Expanded programme on Immunization (EPI) factsheet 2024: Myanmar. New Delhi: WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia; 2024 Aug 20. https://iris.who.int/handle/10665/378500 Date accessed: March 1, 2026
6. Shiu C, Ho J, Aung MN, Chen W-T. From disappointment to despair: USAID cuts to Myanmar's HIV services. The Lancet 2025; 405(10491): 1737.