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Great thread by @yatespj on Myanmar national COVID contingency plan, which appears to have only the most shallow understanding of how anything works in #Myanmar. Dead giveaway: calling GAD "Government Administration Dept" & tasking "senators" to serve on local COVID committees. https://twitter.com/yatespj/status/1248121331117260800">https://twitter.com/yatespj/s...
(GAD is General Administration Department, and there is no such thing as a "senator" in Myanmar".) I assume the lead UN agency -- @WHO -- provided the "technical assistance" to produce this document. (Here& #39;s why I assume this https://bit.ly/2UTyrfm ).">https://bit.ly/2UTyrfm&q...
If ever there was a time for global governance to show its relevance, a global pandemic is it. @WHO -- what have you done for Myanmar? To date, it seems to be this contingency plan and strategic communications like this dashboard: https://bit.ly/3c1Wgra ">https://bit.ly/3c1Wgra&q...
In low income countries , the consensus is to do a LOT of testing, slam the population with health education and take all assistance possible from appropriate donors to build up the resilience of the frontline healthcare workforce. https://bit.ly/2xXRQmC ">https://bit.ly/2xXRQmC&q...
Lockdowns are a bad idea in low income countries with more than 60 percent of the workforce in the informal sector. #Myanmar had 83 percent of the labour force in the informal sector, with no protections at all, according the World Bank in June 2019. https://bit.ly/39RXdB3 ">https://bit.ly/39RXdB3&q...
Nonetheless, it remains possible COVID-19 will not spread in Myanmar (see Dr. Frank Smithuis https://bit.ly/2JU5vxH ).">https://bit.ly/2JU5vxH&q... Dr. Frank really knows Myanmar, and I really hope he is right.
Let& #39;s say Dr. Frank is right and Myanmar slides through the pandemic relatively untouched physically. Why, then, isn& #39;t the gov& #39;t testing more than 800 people (over the last six weeks)? Gov& #39;t could calm everyone& #39;s nerves, or properly put them on alert, by widespread testing.
This contingency plan won& #39;t save any lives at all, as @yatespj indicates, if you read between his lines. #Myanmar is a country of immense inequalities, ethnic and religious divisions, and limited state capacity or will to help the vulnerable.
The vulnerable in #Myanmar are numerous. IDPs? Peri-urban slum dwellers? Millions of migrants? Prisoners? In all likelihood, 10-20 million people are living on the edge of utterly devastating impoverishment, which feels like it& #39;s encroaching by the moment. https://bit.ly/34yVTlD ">https://bit.ly/34yVTlD&q...
Beyond the excellent thread by @yatespj, please check out the data being collect by @TheAnandaMM on more than 60,000 people in random types of "quarantine" in Myanmar.
