WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by project type | Page 385

Standard Project Report 2016
landslides. According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Myanmar ranks among the top three countries most affected
by natural disasters in turn leading to massive population displacement and destruction of livelihoods, crops and
other food sources.
Myanmar, supported by the international community, has made significant progress in fighting undernutrition in
recent years by achieving the Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015. Stunting and wasting rates
reduced by 5.9 percent and 0.9 percent respectively in the past six years [2]. The country has also committed to
reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030, including SDG 2 [3], and has launched the
national Zero Hunger Challenge. But despite these achievements, undernutrition rates in Myanmar remain among
the highest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Nearly one in three children under the age of
five countrywide suffers from chronic malnutrition (stunting) while wasting prevails at 7 percent, leading to increased
mortality rates [4]. Myanmar has one of the lowest life expectancy rates in ASEAN, at 66 years, as well as one of
the highest child mortality rates currently estimated at 50 deaths per 1000 live births [5]. Furthermore, an extremely
low number of children aged 6-23 months—only 16 percent countrywide—are fed a minimum acceptable diet [6].
With prevailing "son bias" in certain ethnic communities, boys are often a given priority for breastfeeding. The lack
of knowledge on mother and child nutrition as well as limited access to healthcare and nutritious food are major
challenges. Myanmar remains one of the world's 20 high tuberculosis (TB) burden countries with an incidence of
197,000 cases according to the latest statistics [7]. HIV prevalence is still alarming among at-risk groups such as in
people who inject drugs (23.1 percent), men having sex with men (6.6 percent), and female sex workers (6.3
percent) [8].
Although the education system is still fragmented in the different regions of Myanmar, especially with regard to the
enrolment disparity between urban and rural sectors, the last approved budget saw expenditure on education
increase to an estimated 5 percent of total government expenditure. Eighty-three percent of children who enrol
complete primary school, but less than half of them complete middle school and even fewer children progress
onward [9]. Customarily, daughters are more likely to drop out of school at an early age in order to serve family
needs.
While the challenges to improving food security and nutrition are substantial, Myanmar, as the second largest
country in Southeast Asia, has a unique set of opportunities as well—rich land, water, mineral, and natural gas
resources, and its strategic location in the fastest-growing region in the world, sharing borders with both India and
China. Myanmar is on track for steady economic development and with the "opening" of the country, which has
further attracted and increased foreign investment, GDP growth is expected to pick up to 8.3 percent in 2016-2017.
Most importantly, the new Government, supported by the international community, has different priorities than
previous regimes and is expected to increase financial and technical support to the agricultural, health and
education sectors, which are all critical to improving food and nutrition security.
[1] Myanmar—Ending Poverty and shared prosperity in a time of transition, World Bank Group, 2014
[2] Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey 2015-2016, Key Indicators, Ministry of Health and Sports, 2016
[3] SDG 2—Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable
agriculture
[4] Myanmar Demographic and Health Survey 2015-2016, Key Indicators, Ministry of Health and Sports, 2016
[5] Ibid
[6] Ibid
[7] 2016 Global Tuberculosis Report, Myanmar, World Health Organization, 2016
[8] 2015 Global AIDS Response Progress Report Myanmar, National AIDS Programme, 2015
[9] The report: Myanmar 2016, Health & Education, Oxford Business Group, 2016
Response of the Government and Strategic Coordination
As a global leader in humanitarian logistics, WFP continued delivering food assistance to some of the most isolated
and disaster-affected areas throughout Myanmar. However, regular and unrestricted access to areas of Kachin
beyond Government control was not possible in the second half of the year. Through coordination with the
counterpart Ministry of Border Affairs, WFP was still able to deliver assistance to