Activity report from BBHC staff

October, 2008 to February, 2009 Report

Medical Relief

Our mobile medical team has seen and treated 1694 patients during this period.
The team covers four sites in Dagon Township and we continue our focus on high blood pressure (hypertension) as well as other acute illnesses. One-on-one and group health education is given by our staff. Educational Pamphlets on malaria, tuberculosis, rabies, hypertension and the potentially harmful practice of using mixed drugs are being distributed amongst the patients and the community. The use of mixed drugs (literal translation) is a widely common practice in Burma. As there are no pharmacies in Burma equivalent to those in the developed world, practically anyone can open up a pharmacy and sell medicines which are usually purchased from the black market. People especially those in the poor communities rely on these to buy medicines for their ailments. The person dispensing the medicines is usually a lay person with no medical or pharmacy training. As a result a number of different medications including unnecessary and/or potentially harmful medications are sold in incorrect dosages. This can create immediate adverse consequences such as drug interactions, drug overdose, etc., as well as long term problems such as antibiotic resistance.

Total cost is US $3000

Gungyon Gone Orphanage

$2500 donated for general use

Farming Project

In October, BBHC provided 30 trailers which were also used as threshers to farmers in Dedaye Township on a deferred payment program. The total cost was US $4,600

In October and November, BBHC made low-interest loans to 155 farmers in Pyapone Township for purchase of fertilizers and 100 farmers in Bogalay Township for general expenditure for planting winter crop.

Total loan amount US $14,000.00

Some farmers from several villages have repaid part or the full loan amount. To date, we have received US $18,000 of loan repayment of which US $6,000 was redirected To Ma-Ubin farmers.

In further assessment trips In January 2009, US $15,000.00 * was made to 106 farmers in Ma-U-Bin Township for general expenditure for planting winter rice.

These farmers either had unsuccessful monsoon crops or were unable to plant at their full capacity or both. They would have had to borrow needed funds at much higher interest rates.

Through meetings with the farmers in the delta during January, we found that, many of them had successful monsoon crop yields. However, the quality of the rice was poor and the rice prices had fallen significantly. A few of them had poor yields. We therefore extended the loan repayment deadline to those farmers still in financial difficulty to the end of the winter crop season (end of April) or the following monsoon season (end of December).
These meetings were helpful in identifying other needs in these communities such as access to safe water supply, farming education, proper sanitation and continued need for loans for farming. Using the recovered loans from our previous year’s projects and through your donations we hope to expand our projects to meet the needs in these areas.

Acknowledgements
We sincerely would like to thank individuals and organizations whose generous donations have made this work possible. We also would like to thank our partners, Burma Relief Network for their donation of medical supplies, Searchers Myanmar for their tireless work in implementing our projects and Europe – Third World, BMA-NA and Dickler’s Foundation for their grants. Your continued support is vital in helping those in need and allowing us to continue with our efforts to improve the lives of many.

*Part (US$5,000) of this loan came from repayment of an earlier loan.