U.S. assistance is reducing infant and child mortality, reducing the spread of infectious diseases, and improving access to live-saving health services in all parts of the country.

A large part of Burma’s population faces obstacles to realizing healthy, productive lives. A quarter of the country lives in poverty. Nearly a million people are estimated to need humanitarian assistance due to natural disasters or ongoing conflicts that are decades old. The country’s maternal and child mortality rates are among the highest in the region. Only 2.3 percent of Burma’s gross national product is spent in the healthcare sector, and the country has among the highest rates of out-of-pocket health expenditure in the world. U.S. Government investments focus on improving health for vulnerable and underserved groups – helping to mitigate sources of fragility arising from deep and longstanding inequities in health access - and addressing health threats such as multi-drug resistant malaria and tuberculosis (TB), and a growing HIV epidemic among people who inject drugs.