Nutrition Indicators

Refugees from Myanmar are susceptible to acute and severe undernutrition, presenting as marasmus and kwashiorkor, as well as cachexia, chronic undernutrition, and micronutrient deficiencies ⁵. High rates of acute and chronic malnutrition are not well-documented, but are likely true because over 40% of Burmese children younger than age 5 in western Myanmar are stunted and one-third are underweight ¹². In 2003, 72% of children from Myanmar had anemia, compared to 49% for children younger than age 5 in the rest of Southeast Asia ¹³.

References

5. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Background on Potential Health Issues for Burmese Refugees. 2010 [cited 2011 June 24]; Available from: www.globalhealth.gov
12. Sollom, R., et al., Health and human rights in Chin State, Western Burma: a population-based assessment using multistaged household cluster sampling. PLoS Med, 2011. 8(2): p. e1001007.
13. Stover, E., et al., The Gathering Storm: Infectious Diseases and Human Rights in Burma. 2007, Human Rights Center, University of California-Berkeley, and Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.