Myanmar

On 1 February 2021, the Tatmadaw (Myanmar military) staged a coup following allegations of fraud in the November 2020 elections, ousting the elected civilian government. The political crisis has led to countrywide instability, including protests, a nationwide general strike, a surge in conflict between various armed groups and the Tatmadaw, and closures or slowdowns in a number of sectors, including banking, healthcare, education and transportation.

This comes on top of an already fragile situation due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as pre-existing poverty and food and nutrition insecurity.

Prior to COVID-19, approximately 4 percent of the population (2.1 million people) had insufficient food consumption, while an additional 21 percent had borderline food consumption. In June 2020, WFP estimated that 758,000 people were at risk of falling into food insecurity due to the pandemic. Even prior to the pandemic, a healthy, nutritious diet remained out of reach for millions – in 2019, only four in ten households could afford a diet meeting nutritional needs, while nine in ten households could afford a diet meeting energy needs (learn more from the Fill the Nutrient Gap Study).

Nearly one in three children under the age of 5 suffers from stunting (short height for their age) while wasting (underweight for their height) stands at 7 percent nationally. Myanmar is one of the world's 20 high tuberculosis burden countries. It is also among the 35 countries accounting for 90 percent of new HIV infections globally. Men and boys are more likely to suffer from HIV due to seasonal migration to border areas where unsafe drug injection and high-risk sexual behaviour are common. Education remains inadequate at all levels. 74 percent of children who enroll complete primary school, but less than half complete middle school and even fewer progress onward. Girls are more likely to drop out of school at an early age to serve family needs.

Myanmar’s susceptibility to natural disasters implies a high risk of destruction of livelihoods, crops and other food sources, as well as displacement, due events such as cyclones, floods or drought. Since 2002, more than 13 million people have been affected by climate-related disasters, including severe tropical cyclones Nargis in 2008, Giri in 2010, Komen in 2015 and Mora in 2017.

Although Myanmar achieved the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015, the ongoing COVID-pandemic and political events in 2021 risk reversing the significant progress made in addressing hunger and malnutrition. In the current context, WFP is focusing on securing its life-saving food and cash assistance to internally displaced people and other vulnerable populations with little to no access to livelihoods, while expanding its emergency response into urban areas where people are increasingly vulnerable to food insecurity. WFP is also continuing its livelihoods, nutrition and school feeding programmes where possible, while leading on humanitarian support services, including logistics coordination and the provision of humanitarian flights in and out of the country.

Despite multiple challenges ahead, WFP, which implemented its first operation in Myanmar in 1978 and established its first office in the country in 1994, remains committed to supporting the people of Myanmar and responding to ongoing and emerging humanitarian needs.