2024 BHM Field Visit (read the full report here)

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This was our first on-site visit to BHM we've supported for the past 9-10 years, focusing primarily on the backpack medic teams from various ethnic minorities in Myanmar. During the visit, we toured the main facilities of the Backpack Healthcare Worker Team (BPHWT) in Mae Sot, engaged with their leaders, and interacted with approximately 80 medics who gathered for an annual meeting; our support funds 29 of the 114 teams.

Transportation

Got around Mae Sot by moped, just like many locals do

Facility

 Eye Department

 backpack medic Training 

Temporary living quarters for medic’s traveling to Mae Sot for training or resupply. Roof made of flat leaves.

Project: Backpack Medic and Medicine Support

Mission: In the face of political instability, human rights violations, and poverty, Burma Humanitarian Mission trains local backpack medics to bring healing, hope, and a new future to the Burmese people.

Results: Supported 28,271 people, 7,169 patients treated, 91 backpack medics trained

Region:
Burma

Leader:
Michael Isherwood

Cause:
Medical

Description: Burma Humanitarian Mission (BHM), a U.S. 501(c)3 non-profit organization, advocates for a democratic Burma where equality and the rights of the Burmese are protected. They aim to improve the lives of those living in the conflict zones of Burma, such as the Karen State, by providing health care services in the form of backpack medics and supporting community-based education and medical projects. Today, BHM serves the medical needs of over 50,000 villagers and supports education efforts that touch over 500,000 lives annually. 

Partner: Burma Humanitarian Mission
Year Founded: 1999
TFish Member Since: 2012

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Donation Impact

Backpack Medicine Support

BHM provides medical supplies for backpack medics throughout eastern Burma. Each medic team needs 45,000 doses of medicine to treat 2,000 patients for one year. Each dollar donated secures 40 doses of medicine; $5 will secure treatments needed to cure a pregnant woman with malaria, saving two lives; $25 will provide penicillin to 9-12 villages for one year.

Burma Backpack Medic Training

BHM also supports the training of new backpack medics who are committed to serving their villages for the next two years. BHM supplies mobile medic teams and fixed clinics within Burma that serve over 50,000 villagers. BHM provides additional support for building facilities and for larger items needed by the Backpack Health Worker Teams.

Field Updates 2017

Field Updates 2013

This year, BHM funded 8 new clinics in Karen State and 1 new clinic in Kachin State. 

They also started a 7-month training course for 20 new medics and traveled through Mae Sot to assess the needs of the current medics as well as their performance. 

This year, a four person medical team from Burma Humanitarian Mission spent three days traveling to villages in Karen State to help those in need. 

So far this year, Burma Humanitarian Mission has received $11,940 in donations through TFISH. Below are two Skilled Birth Attendants who were able to take part in training, empowering them to be midwives in their communities and provide maternal health services to the women in their remote areas, all thanks to donations like these.

Field Updates 2012

The ethnic minorities in eastern and northern Burma suffer significant health problems due to austere conditions and lack of available medicines. As a result, health challenges, such as malaria, dysentery, and complications from child birth, have dramatically high mortality rates.

To combat this troubling situation, BHM assists and empowers the Burmese people as they develop their own solutions. They respond to the people's initiatives, doing their best to provide support whenever it is required. Today, BHM partners with the Backpack Medic Teams to train medics in eastern Burma, reaching tens of thousands of villagers.

In 2012, BHM provied 1 million doses of medicine, which the medics used with tremendous results. In areas where the backpack medics operated, deaths from malaria decreased by 48% and deaths from dysentery declined by 51%.

In addition, child mortality rates reduced from 20 deaths to 14 deaths per 100 children - a 30% reduction. Maternal mortality rates fell four-fold compared to historical averages for those in eastern Burma lacking backpack medics.