Burma: Closing its Doors on Health Care

Burma, also known as Myanmar, has been a main topic of controversy in the news. The country is in turmoil, fueled by an oppressive military junta and civilian demonstrators, due to the junta's unwillingness to loosen the dictatorial grip on the country's political, economic, and social structure. Because of this, many of the inhabitants have begun to protest, however, with very little progress as the junta counters by military force. According to BBC news, many are arrested and killed through the use of baton charges and tear gas.

Though it is distressing to see this kind of violence, what is also occurring is a health care crisis within the country that should be addressed immediately. Even before the start of the rebellion, the Burmese health system has been anything but adequate. To confirm this fact, “the World Health Report 2000, graded Myanmar 190th in overall health system performance of 191 countries." What places Myanmar as the world’s second worst health system is negligence from the military government to implement health regulations and build public clinics. The regime is too occupied with maintaining its authoritarian power through military spending (as seen to the left), thereby disregarding the severity of the health dilemma. A statement from the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) noted, “The regime has more than doubled the size of the military and slashed its spending on health care to less than $1 per person per year." This leaves many Burmese vulnerable to illnesses and diseases. State-run medical facilities are unequipped to provide clinical assistance to the poorer provinces. Given the lack of treatments, “almost 90 of Burma’s 52 million population[s] are at risk of malaria, and […] with nearly 9, 700 [tuberculosis] cases detected every year. […] A third of children are chronically malnourished, 15 of the population is food insecure, and the under-5 mortality rate is 106 per 1000.” If the government does not take notice of this crucial matter soon, maintaining power would not be the only predicament that it will face in the future.

The government’s lack of initative to spend on health care has caught the attention of many humanitarian organizations. Agencies, like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Doctors Without Borders, have sent up medical supplies and clinical institutions to aid the people. However, the junta, in fear of dissent to overthrow the government, has imposed limitations on the travel of aid and health volunteers. This only resulted in “many international medical charities […] winding up their operations in Burma, […] citing government restrictions on [their] movement made functioning nearly impossible.” As more civil society organizations leave the country, the public is left to fend for themselves; some are even willing to flee the country to find medical relief, dangerously crossing the border into countries such as Thailand and Cambodia. There are a few who do receive clinical services, but “many patients come too late and died in the clinic (as pictured to the right), while newborn babies and the elderly are sometimes abandoned by family who simply cannot afford to care for them [during the journey]” states Dr. Cynthia Maung of Mae Tao Clinic. Children and elders, the ones who suffer the most, cannot handle the physical demands that the journey entails and are left behind to wait for death.

The core issue in Myanmar is a violation of human rights. The military leaders continue to ignore and neglect the wellvbeing of its citizens, with many waiting for death because of inadequate health treatments. Given the junta’s hunger for power and control, most of the country’s expenditure is focused on building up an army rather than health services. As the military government becomes more power hungry and insecure, the rights and lives of these citizens are pushed aside. These people are entitled to medical care; it is the government’s obligation to take care of its citizens and their health should be the first priority. This injustice should be stopped and the only possible way is that other powerful states in the international community should intervene. However, many states are reluctant to intervene due to the bylaws of the state sovereignty. Still, we must consider that this is not a matter of people just being arrested, but people are dying and suffering from a lack of medical treatments. Should we stand by and allow this atrocity to continue?

Skin Bleaching: A Growing Trend in Southeast Asia

With the phenomenon of globalization bringing forth new ideas and information, even a continent as culturally unique as Asia is feeling its effects. In Southeast Asia for example, women are perusing through the pages of imported Western magazines and are captivated by their Western counterpart’s standards of beauty. These women have begun to develop the perception that light or pale skin represents beauty, believing that having a fair complexion will make them seem more attractive and confident. Thus, some Asian women are buying face bleaching products in order to achieve the white, milky complexion. A June 2004 survey conducted by Synovate asserts that thirty-eight percent of women in Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan are using skin whitening products. Though this cultural issue has not been mentioned in recent news, it has become a trend that is rapidly gaining popularity.

Globalization may have accelerated the popularity of skin whitening, but the trend can be dated back to ancient China and Japan. In a CNN article, Professor Lam Wai-kei confirmed, “In their early bid to lighten up, Chinese ground pearl from seashells into powder and swallowed it to whiten their skin, […] while Geisha girls powdered their faces chalk white." In most Southeast Asian countries, there is a collective belief that a fair milky skin is associated with the higher social class, whereas dark skin pertains to the lower social class. Unfortunately, this belief has been passed down through generations, and has been seeded in the minds of most women today.

The media has been the chief contributor to the skin whitening trend’s popularity in Southeast Asia starting with the Asia-Pacific television promoting lighter skin. As the soap operas industry are taking Asia by storm, regardless of the language differences, most of the leading actors in these dramas are usually lighter skinned. To make matters worse, these actors are placed in advertisements promoting skin whitening products like the ad seen to left. In the New York Times, a dermatologist from Bangkok, Nithiwadi Phuchareuyot, commented, “Every Thai girl thinks that if she has white skin the money will come and the men will come. The movie stars are all white-skinned, and everyone wants to look like a superstar.” Given the fact that the media are constantly feeding the “lighter is better” image to its consumers, it is difficult for Asian women to set a frame of mind that lighter skinned does not always reflect beauty.

With constant media bombardment, Asian women pressured to keep up with the trends are running to their local pharmacies or beauty stores to buy these skin whitening products. However, most women from the poor regions of Southeast Asia cannot afford it. In order to get their hands on the creams at a lower price, they resort to buying uncertified skin bleaching creams from their local village or the black market. These uncertified creams usually contain chemicals such as mercury or hydroquinone in high amounts, which are very harmful to the skin. For instance, the International Herald Tribune reports an incident involving a Thai woman named Panya, who bought a skin bleaching cream for a dollar. After using the cream, Panya’s skin became itchy and became marred with pink patches. It was later discovered that she had developed leukoderma, as seen in the image to the right. From then on, her life plunged into a downward spiral when she lost her job as a singer due to her unbearable appearance. Panya is only one of the many unlucky women who have experienced the adverse effects of skin bleaching.

What makes the skin-whitening such an important matter is that it threatens the cultural identity of the people of Southeast Asia. These women are fixated on the glamour of the West and are blinded to seeing the natural beauty of their own skin color. Given the magnitude of the issue, I believe the governments of Southeast Asia should intervene in this matter because the skin-whitening trend has traveled to poorest region and have become unsafe to use. What is being sold to these women is harmful, and the consequences are devastating because it may leave them facially scarred. Addressing the matter means protecting these women from being preyed on by the black market, and hopefully setting an example that darker skin can still be considered beautiful.

India's Tea Industry: A Long Forgotten Sector

As many may know, globalization is a rising trend among many nation-states. Nation-states are becoming more interconnected as information, technology, and ideas are spreading like wildfires. However, globalization has the ability to either break down or build up a nation’s economy. In the instance of India, it has been known as the main source, second to China, for providing goods and services to developed countries. India is known for exporting textile goods, jewelry, and medical products. As for services, it is best known as the main settlement for outsourcing because of cheap labor. These components are the huge contributors to India economic success and rising power within the international system. With all the profitable advantages that globalization has brought to India, not all sectors of the economy is benefiting from this trend such as the tea production industry (as seen in the image to the left).

The tea market was once the most profitable sector in India’s economy. The tea production industry can be traced back to the British’s colonial rule. Dating back as far as the 1830s, the commercial production of tea began and flourished when the East India Company decided to move tea production from China to India. Thus, over the past decades even after India’s partition from Britain, India became one the leading suppliers of tea alongside China. According to a Euromonitor International article, “India [was producing] 826 million kg of tea in 2002, representing approximately 30% of the world’s tea supply.” Unfortunately, today, India’s tea industry has fallen into difficult times. Most tea farmers (as seen in the image to the right) are barely making a living as the tea market becomes more competitive and tea becomes more abundant. The family-owned tea farms are the ones that are struggling to survive. These family-owned farms are either bought out by large tea companies or go out of business due to lack of earnings. On a larger scale, the entire industry in India is looking at a bleak future in tea production as competition goes beyond the border.

Foreign competition has been one of the main reasons for the downward sales in Indian tea. Some underdeveloped and developing countries, like India, are taking advantage of globalization and are targeting the tea industry. Some of these countries are Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. Due to cheap labor in these countries, they are able to sell their tea at a lower price than India can. A case study conducted by American University in Washington D.C. confirms that teas in Sri Lanka are sold at the low price of 1.5 U.S. dollars a kilogram, whereas India’s teas are sold for 2 dollars. Though the price difference is only 50 cents, foreign tea importers would prefer to buy Sri Lankan tea because they would be saving 50 cents per kilogram. In the world of business, companies and buyers are looking for the lowest common denominator, and they will always want to make a profit from it. Therefore, India must find a way to keep their tea prices down , but still make a profit to support their laborers, in order to attract and sway the buyers from the competition.

The Indian government has not taken full initiative to resolve this crisis. However, within some of the Indian states, the state governments have taken the initiative to enact laws to promote the tea industry. One of the laws is the Himachal Pradesh Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, which restricts tea farmers from selling their land or changing their land use. Yet, the act has not been very effective because it leaves the farmers stagnant. Basically, they are not raking in enough revenue, and they are not allowed to cultivate any crops other than tea. If this matter is not resolved, many tea farms will go out of business and the farmers will face poverty.

It could be in the near future that the Indian tea leaf industry could be coming to a close as foreign competition and ineffective land regulations by state governments leave the industry high and dry. I believe the life and death of the industry lies in the hands of the Indian government and how they regard its importance to India’s economy. The Indian government may either decide to close down the tea industry because it is a drag on the economy or they may decide to keep the industry and find a way to subsidize the tea planters.