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The Aftermath in Myanmar

Council on Foreign Relations

Interviewee: Laurie Garrett, Senior Fellow for Global Health
Interviewer: Jayshree Bajoria, Staff Writer

May 13, 2008

The devastation from the cyclone that ravaged Myanmar on May 3 is still unclear amid a rising death toll and limited aid relief for victims. CFR’s Senior Fellow for Global Health, Laurie Garrett, says if the regime continues to try to limit international access and insists only on receiving supplies without the expertise, “I think it is very reasonable that the death toll is going to exceed anything that we have ever seen in an Asian nation in the last thirty, forty years.” Garrett says the next few days is the last remaining window to save those “that are clinging on the edge of life,” and this “requires knowledge that is very deep and if not done properly can do more harm than good.”

What are the major health related risks that the people of Myanmar face now in the aftermath of the cyclone?

Certainly the top of the list is going to be horrible infections due to untreated traumatic injuries. Even relatively minor injuries, scrapes, and cuts, if left untreated and exposed to the elements and contaminated water, can indeed turn into bacterially infected wounds that could have life threatening repercussions. As far as we can tell, getting appropriate supplies for treatments and getting them especially to the remote parts of the country is proving extremely difficult for a host of reasons.

I think the second big concern is just general exposure. People shouldn’t be sleeping outdoors, particularly if they are already traumatized and may have underlying illnesses of any kind. As far as we can tell there has not been any massive effort to provide tents or temporary structures to protect individuals from the elements. So I expect that there will be a large death toll simply for the lack of any kind of substitute housing.

Read the rest of this article on the cfr.org website.

Copyright 2008 by the Council on Foreign Relations. This material is republished on GlobalSecurity.org with specific permission from the cfr.org. Reprint and republication queries for this article should be directed to cfr.org.