Newborn care corners have been opened at 51 township hospitals, 71 station hospitals, 610 rural healthcare centres and 1,290 rural healthcare branches in various regions and states with the provision of necessary medicines and medical equipment, according to the Ministry of Health and Sports.
The Social Welfare Department is carrying out tasks such as child care from pregnancy to eight-year-olds, and child protection and development. The department provides K15,000 per mother monthly from pregnancy until their children reach two. The programme started in Chin State, Rakhine State and Naga in 2017-2018 and in Kayin and Kayah states in 2018-2019.
Those tasks were carried out with K17.832 billion from government funds and K5.592 billion from international funds.
To provide child care for children from the age of six months to three years, 650 mother corners were opened in 2018-2019. In the effort for the emergence of more pre-primary schools, 1,025 community-based self-reliant pre-primary schools were opened.
According to the Ministry of Health and Sports, 1.6 million children (three in 10) are living without birth certificates in Myanmar. Most of them are from migrant families, so they usually have to live separately from their parents.
The ministry stressed the need to ensure that children have birth certificates so that they can enjoy opportunities for education and health services. Being able to confirm age can prevent forced recruitment in armed organizations, forced labour, human trafficking and forced marriage.
