True Inspiration in Shan State, Myanmar

BY Sono Aibe May 18, 2015

Reproductive health champion Dr. Than Min Htut (right) and future auxiliary midwives-in-training.

We drive along rolling hills, surrounded by mounds of red, fertile soil, admiring the large banyan and mango trees full of dangling fruit. Occasionally, rain showers interrupt the otherwise calm landscape where farmers hoe their field and ride along on their ox carts. Boys chew on sugar cane as they herd their cows, part of their daily routine.

Today was a really good day.

I’m here in Pindaya Township, Myanmar to follow up on progress since the National Family Planning Best Practices Conference we organized last year.

Today we met with the Township Medical Officer Dr. Than Min Htut, a dedicated reproductive health champion. He also administers a 50-bed hospital, chairs the local Red Cross, motorbikes up to remote villages at 6,000 feet above sea level to deliver immunizations, responds to teens’ questions about contraception on his Facebook page, raises funds from local philanthropists, trains young auxiliary midwives, nurtures social welfare groups in the communities, AND operates in the hospital theater at night (he had three Cesarean sections lined up that night starting at 9:00pm, he said).

As if that was not inspiring enough, he reports that since attending the Family Planning Best Practices Conference last year, he has advocated the Ministry of Health to add a chapter on contraception in the training manual for auxiliary midwives. He also doubled the number of hospital deliveries in the last two years by promoting respectful, friendly care to patients.

“I told my staff to smile at patients and make them feel welcomed,” he said.

At the rural health post we visited in his township, the midwife proudly showed us the family planning counseling cue cards that we had translated into Myanmar language and distributed to participants at the conference. The midwife beamed and said that it was helping her better counsel her clients on all methods of contraception.

We are supported changes on a small scale here in Myanmar, but they have a lasting impact. Not all of them happen with money and materials, but through the creation of opportunities that facilitate the natural leadership, the commitment, and the entrepreneurial spirit of local health workers to emerge.

Tomorrow and the next day, we are holding a state level Family Planning Workshop in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and UNFPA.

I can only hope that another 20 Medical Officers will be inspired by the words of Dr. Than Min Htut and commit to joining his cause.