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Deploying Portable Ultrasounds to Field Hospitals in Karenni State, Myanmar

​​Summary

Open Channel Projects, in collaboration with the Emergency Care Support Network (ECSN), proposes a pilot initiative to deploy two Butterfly portable ultrasound devices (iQ and iQ+) to field hospitals in Karenni State, Myanmar. This project aims to enhance emergency care capacity and overall healthcare delivery in a region severely impacted by the ongoing humanitarian crisis following the Myanmar military coup in February 2021. Open Channel Projects is uniquely positioned to execute this initiative due to our close collaboration with trusted local partner organizations with extensive knowledge of the region's healthcare challenges and needs. The local project lead, the founder of the Emergency Care Support Network (ECSN), is an emergency medicine specialist from Myanmar with deep expertise in the local context. ECSN works in partnership with the Ethnic Health System Strengthening Group and the Civil Health and Development Network Karenni State, both key members of a broader network of ethnic health organizations dedicated to enhancing healthcare systems in Eastern Myanmar. These partnerships ensure a culturally sensitive approach, language fluency, access to the region, and the resources and personnel needed to implement the project effectively. If successful, this pilot will serve as a model for broader deployment across the Myanmar-Thailand border region.

Background and Context

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​​In February 2021, Myanmar experienced a military coup, resulting in widespread trauma, conflict, and loss of healthcare infrastructure.1 This triggered a surge of internally displaced persons, many of whom fled to states along the Myanmar-Thailand border. This project plans to increase access to emergency ultrasound, critical to filling gaps in emergency and conflict-related care for this vulnerable population. 

Since the coup three years ago, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that 2.6 million people are internally displaced within Myanmar and the Peace Research Institute of Oslo reports that within just the first 20 months of the coup, 6,337 civilians were killed and 2,614 wounded.2,3 This is compounded by the multifactorial breakdown of the Myanmar medical system, including 60% of the healthcare workforce joining the pro-democracy Civil Disobedience Movement, thus being unable to work within official government-sanctioned healthcare settings.4  Karenni, a state along the Myanmar-Thailand border, is cited by OCHA as one of the top three Myanmar states needing health assistance, with 41% of the population in need.1 The increasing vulnerability of Myanmar’s population and rising conflict injuries highlight the need for expanding trauma and emergency care capacity along the Myanmar-Thailand border. It has been shown that improving trauma and emergency care in conflict zones and low- and middle-income countries significantly reduces morbidity and mortality.5

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References:

1. Myanmar Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan 2024 (December 2023) [EN/MY] Source OCHA Posted 18 Dec 2023 Originally published 18 Dec 2023. https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/myanmar-humanitarian-needs-and-response-plan-2024-december-2023-enmy 

2. Myanmar Humanitarian Update No. 35 | 2023 Year in Review Source OCHA Posted 12 Jan 2024 Originally published 12 Jan 2024

3. Counting Myanmar’s Dead: Reported Civilian Casualties since the 2021 Military Coup Source PRIO Posted 13 Jun 2023 Originally published 13 Jun 2023 https://reliefweb.int/report/myanmar/counting-myanmars-dead-reported-civilian-casualties-2021-military-coup

4. UK-EHO Health Partners Sharing & Learning Event. 1st and 2nd December 2023

5. Husum H, Gilbert M, Wisborg T, Heng Y, Van MM. Rural Prehospital Trauma Systems improve trauma outcome in low-income countries: a prospective study from North Iraq and Cambodia. J Trauma Inj Infect Crit Care. 2003;54:1188–96. doi: 10.1097/01.TA.0000073609.12530.19.

Emergency Care Support

In collaboration with the Emergency Care Support Network (ECSN) and other partners, we are developing and implementing emergency care training programs and supporting the development of the Emergency Care Unit (ECU) at the Mae Tao Clinic.