One-third of Myanmar population in need of humanitarian aid: UN

A UN official on Monday said a 3rd of Myanmar’s population needs humanitarian assistance, calling for action to relieve to the “grim” humanitarian situation in the conflict-ridden Asian country.

UN secretary-general’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters that 18.6 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance, which is a million more people than last year and almost 19 times the number of people requiring assistance before the military takeover.

“Children are bearing the brunt of the crisis,” he said, adding some six million of them need aid due to displacement, interrupted health care and education, food insecurity and malnutrition, as well as protection risks.

Women, girls, people with disabilities, and Rohingya people are “among those impacted the most by this dangerous environment,” he added.

Dujarric emphasized that in the face of soaring needs, humanitarians have prioritized 5.3 million people for urgent assistance in 2024 and will need US$994 million.

In 2017, Myanmar’s military launched violent operations against the Rohingya population in northern Rakhine State which rights groups have since called a genocide.

Nearly 1.2 million Rohingya were forced into neighboring Bangladesh, where they have been living for years in overcrowded refugee camps.