A coordinated approach to reaching communities with health care across Myanmar

Caption: A local health worker, a critical link in the human chain, checks a baby and her mother at a new health clinic in Southern Shan State. Constructed by the UNOPS-managed Access to Health Fund with support from a private sector partner, the facility features solar-powered electricity, providing reliable care even in remote areas.
Photo: © UNOPS/Access To Health Fund

Across Myanmar, where overlapping crises continue to disrupt access to essential health services, United Nations agencies are working together to deliver a more integrated, people-centred approach to health. By aligning expertise across sectors – from community engagement and family support to service delivery and system strengthening – these joint efforts are expanding access to life-saving services and helping ensure that even in the most challenging settings, individuals and communities can lead, healthier, more resilient lives.

Light in the Darkness

In the quiet, pre-dawn hours of Southern Shan State, the darkness is usually absolute. But inside a newly constructed health clinic, the hum of solar-powered electricity brings not just light, but safety, reliability and uninterrupted health care.

For Nang Hom, a mother carrying twins, this clinic was her only option. "In the old facility, we didn’t even have beds", recalls Ma Nang*, a local health worker who has spent years navigating the gaps in the system. “It was just a simple, dusty building where the power cut out constantly,"

Today, that fear is being replaced by dignity and security. The facility, built by the UNOPS-managed Access to Health Fund with support from a private sector partner. It features wide corridors for disability access and dedicated maternity rooms, along with features that make services more accessible for all patients. "Thanks to the solar lighting, there was no problem even at three in the morning," explains Nang Hom, holding her healthy twins. "We feel safe and well-cared for here”.

Building Systems That Communities Can Trust

Such investments in infrastructure do more than improve buildings. When services are safe, reliable and accessible, communities are more likely to seek and receive the care they need.

In 2025 alone, WHO supported more than 668,000 people with life-saving medical supplies and enabled over 183,000 individuals to access safe primary and secondary health services through its partners. These figures are indicative of the importance of continued health interventions in Myanmar, where access to care remains constrained and sustainable support is critical in preventing disease outbreaks, managing chronic conditions and saving lives.

Caption: A pregnant woman from Southern Shan receiving a mother and baby pack. Photo: © WHO Myannmar

The Science of a Stronger Home

The impact of this unified health approach extends beyond clinical care and into the foundations of family life. In Pinlong Township, this is reflected in the implementation of the UNODC Strong Families Programme, which is a structured, evidence-based intervention designed to strengthen parenting skills, improve communication between caregivers and children, and build emotional resilience in communities facing social and economic stress.

Delivered through short, practical sessions, the programme equips parents with tools to support their children’s mental well-being, reduce family conflict, and create protective environments that lowers the risk of substance use and other harmful behaviours.

As the UN agency leading efforts on drug prevention, UNODC plays a critical role in the wider health ecosystem. By addressing the root causes of vulnerability such as stress, disconnection and lack of awareness, the Strong Families Programme contributes directly to preventing substance misuse and strengthening community well-being.

A mother of three once felt a growing distance between herself and her children. "I used to think that providing food and sending my children to school was enough. But I didn’t know how to really talk to them... or understand what they were going through", she shared.

Through the programme, her perspectives began to shift. She discovered that the "science of health" is not confined to clinics, but is also built through everyday interactions, through listening, trust and open communication within the home.

Strengthening Continuity of Care

While partners like WHO and UNOPS strengthen clinical care and continuity of care through community volunteers, UNODC strengthens the home environment where health behaviours are shaped. Together, these interventions form a holistic system anchored in both medical and psychosocial wellbeing.

Building on this foundation, under WHO’s community-led breastfeeding promotion, 252 pregnant mothers of children under two have been supported during the critical first 1,000 days of a child's development. "I learned that breastfeeding is not just feeding; it is protection. Breast milk is the best vaccine for a newborn," says one mother after a WHO education session. These localized, peer-supported sessions are part of a boarder risk communication and community engagement efforts, which reached 4.6 million people with tailored health messaging in 2025, helping communities better understand health risks, adopt healthier practices, and reduce exposure to disease.

Caption: Families and community members participate in a Strong Families session in IDP and conflict-affected communities in Shan State, strengthening communication, trust, and resilience to support healthier futures. Photo: © UNODC Myanmar/Drugs & Health Programme (2025)

The Road to Resilience

In the Bago Region, the challenge of health is often measured by the length of the road and the cost of the journey. For eleven-year-old Su, who is living with HIV, life follows the rhythm of a daily antiretroviral tablet. While WHO helped maintain treatment continuity for 75 per cent of the 290,000 people living with HIV in Myanmar, specialized pediatric services remain concentrated in a few distant centers.

"It’s not the illness that is hard," explains Ma Win, Su’s mother. "It’s the road to reach the medicine". To ensure Su and others like her don't fall through the cracks, UNICEF and partners support a network of peer volunteers who act as a human bridge to care.

Caption: A mother in Southern Shan State reviews health and nutrition guidance during a community outreach session. In Myanmar’s rapidly shifting environment, ensuring families have access to facts, not fear, is essential for protecting lives and building long-term resilience. Photo: © WHO Myanmar

Ko Ko, now 21, grew up on the same treatment and now spends his days comforting younger children who are scared of their HIV diagnosis. In communities where HIV is still stigmatized, this kind of peer support is vital, helping children feel less isolated and more willing to seek and continue care. "He didn’t need a doctor that day. He needed someone who had lived the same life," Ko Ko says of a young boy he recently supported. This same community-based approach contributed to broader treatment outcomes, including sustaining an 85 per cent treatment success rate for over 116,000 people diagnosed with Tuberculosis last year.

Myanmar’s health landscape remains deeply fractured by the conflict and requires coordinated approaches thar combine service delivery, community outreach and resilience building. In total, WHO’s Health in Emergencies (WHE) Programme reached over 970,000 people in 2025 (more than half of whom were women), helping ensure that even in the most disrupted environments, essential services remain accessible.

By standing with science and acting together, the United Nations in Myanmar is helping to build a health system where access to care is not a privilege, but a fundamental right. From solar‑powered clinics to parenting sessions and peer support networks, each intervention forms part of a connected health ecosystem — one that ensures no one is left behind on the road to a healthier future.

*Some names have been changed for safety reasons to protect the identities of those interviewed.

This story is informed by field inputs and programme data from United Nations agencies and their partners supporting health assistance and essential service delivery across Myanmar.