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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar monk attempts suicide at famous temple
AP - New UN president chides Security Council powers
AFP - Bush: Bolivia joins Myanmar, Venezuela on drugs blacklist
AFP - Ailing Suu Kyi accepts food rations: Myanmar official
AFP - New arrest warrant issued for Thaksin over Myanmar loan
AFP - Singapore defends move against Myanmar activists
AFP - Tainted milk sickens 6,000 babies in China
AFP - Amnesty urges global pledge on small weapons sales
The Times of India - NHPC ventures into Myanmar
ReliefWeb - Myanmar: Health cluster situation report no. 43, 16 Sep 2008
IRIN - MYANMAR: Health of cyclone-affected children improves

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Myanmar monk attempts suicide at famous temple
AP - Thursday, September 18

YANGON, Myanmar - A Buddhist monk slashed his throat in a suicide attempt at Myanmar's most sacred temple, the scene of several pro-democracy protests that erupted a year ago, witnesses said Wednesday.

A trustee of the Shwedagon temple said the monk became desperate after running out of money to pay for medical care. It was the second suicide attempt by a monk at the pagoda this year.

The temple has a history as a center for mass political gatherings, and was a focus for Buddhist monks and pro-democracy protesters last September.

Tuesday's attempted suicide occurred at a time when the authorities have tightened security in Yangon and other cities to try to prevent any protests this month marking the first anniversary of the anti-government demonstrations.

Those protests were initially small, consisting of people complaining that the military government had failed to ease their economic burdens. They later turned into broader anti-government demonstrations, led by militant monks and brought as many as 100,000 people out into the streets on Yangon, the country's biggest city.

The army eventually stepped in to quash the peaceful protests by force, killing at least 31 people and detaining hundreds.

The monk who tried to take his life Tuesday was brought to Yangon General Hospital, said witnesses, who asked not to be named so as not to draw the attention of the country's military authorities.

"The monk said he tried to kill himself because he was desperate. He said he came to Yangon to take medical treatment and he ran out of money," according to the trustee, who also asked for anonymity.

The trustee said the monk, whose name has not been released, was in stable condition.

In March, 26-year-old Kyaw Zin Naing set himself on fire at the temple after shouting anti-government slogans, according to witnesses. He died later of burn injuries.

Witnesses to Tuesday's suicide attempt did not hear the monk shout any anti-government slogans.

Another politically significant anniversary is being marked this week. On Sept. 18, 1988, the army intervened to smash massive pro-democracy demonstrations and grab absolute power from a weak interim government, suspending the constitution.

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New UN president chides Security Council powers
AP - Thursday, September 18

UNITED NATIONS - The new president of the U.N. General Assembly opened its 63rd annual session Tuesday by accusing some of the world body's most powerful members of relying on warfare.

“It is a sad but undeniable fact that serious breaches of the peace and threats to international peace and security are being perpetrated by some members of the Security Council that seem unable to break what appears like an addiction to war,” Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann said, without specifying any countries.

During his acceptance speech in June, he criticized what he called “acts of aggression” in Iraq and Afghanistan without mentioning the United States by name.

D'Escoto, a Nicaraguan Roman Catholic priest allied with his country's leftist president, also took a swipe at the U.S. on Tuesday for what he said was its “unjust” 46-year-long trade embargo against Cuba.

His remarks before a half-filled chamber were his first as president of the 192-nation assembly. He will preside over its yearlong session, including two weeks of ministerial meetings that begin next week.

Separately, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told The Associated Press in an interview that he would use the assembly's ministerial session to hold talks with world leaders on issues ranging from climate change to the detention of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

He called it a top priority “to mobilize and galvanize all political wills and resources starting from now” to craft a new climate change agreement next year to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol.

Speaking about Suu Kyi, Ban said Myanmar's military junta “should release her from house arrest,” to allow the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been on a recent hunger strike to lead “a genuine and free life.”

Much of d'Escoto's antipathy was directed at the 15-nation Security Council, the United Nations' most powerful body, which is dominated by the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France _ the five permanent members with veto power.

That configuration reflects the balance of power at the end of World War II, when the U.N. was created. It was much on d'Escoto's mind as he dedicated his presidency to seeking “the democratization of the United Nations” and to helping the “dispossessed. ”

Turning to Cuba, d'Escoto wondered aloud why the United Nations has been powerless to overturn the U.S. trade embargo imposed on Fidel Castro's government in February 1962.

“If the opinion of more than 95 percent of the membership of the United Nations can be so casually ignored, of what use is this General Assembly?” he said.

The General Assembly's resolutions aren't binding, unlike the Security Council, which can set international law. But the assembly controls the U.N. budget and serves as a world forum for debate.

D'Escoto has long been a supporter of Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, who once allied himself with Fidel Castro and the Soviet Union and won re-election as Nicaragua's president in 2006. D'Escoto was foreign minister of Nicaragua when the Sandinistas ruled in the 1980s.

The assembly's presidency rotates by region and lasts for a year. The assembly elected d'Escoto, who was born in Los Angeles, to succeed Macedonian diplomat Srgjan Kerim.
Kerim closed out his year as president with a news conference, where he praised the assembly's last-minute consensus agreement Monday night to explore adding new members to the Security Council. Kerim used his prerogative to push through compromise language at the last minute.

“We have really accomplished something,” Kerim said. “The General Assembly is the only place for nations to talk on equal footing.”

The top candidates, if such a change were made, would likely include World War II-defeated nations Germany and Japan, along with developing powers India and Brazil. A U.N. working group began examining the possibility of expanding the council as long as 15 years ago.

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Bush: Bolivia joins Myanmar, Venezuela on drugs blacklist
Tue Sep 16, 5:12 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush has declared that Bolivia, Myanmar, and Venezuela failed over the past year to live up to their obligations to battle the narcotics trade, the White House said Tuesday.

Bush's move, announced in annual US presidential findings on the illegal drug trade, added Bolivia to Myanmar and Venezuela, which were already on the list in 2007 as countries that "failed demonstrably" in that regard.

But he waived resulting restrictions on aid, saying assistance to Venezuela's "democratic institutions" and support for "bilateral programs" in Bolivia were "vital to the national interests of the United States."

The decision was announced in a memorandum for US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, dated Monday but released Tuesday, listing "Major Drug Transit or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries for Fiscal Year 2009."

"I hereby identify the following countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug producing countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela," Bush said.

Bush noted that appearing on the list "is not necessarily an adverse reflection of its government's counternarcotics efforts or level of cooperation with the United States."
Instead, it can be "the combination of geographic, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to transit or be produced despite the concerned government's most assiduous enforcement measures."

Bush, who has ordered more US troops to quell a deadly resurgence of Islamist fighters in Afghanistan, said the Kabul government of President Hamid Karzai had "made some progress" in fighting poppy cultivation.

"However, drug trafficking remains a serious threat to the future of Afghanistan, contributing to widespread public corruption, damaging legitimate economic growth, and fueling violence and insurgency," he said.

Bush cited "difficult security conditions" as well as drug-related corruption -- "one of the most intransigent problems in the country" -- as major obstacles to eradicating poppies, the raw material for opium and heroin.

Bush said Canada, the biggest US trading partner, had become a "significant producer" of highly potent marijuana and club-drug "ecstasy" but expressed optimism about the country's anti-drug strategy.

Bush praised India's "strong track record" of controlling its legal opium production and distribution but said it "cannot let up" to ensure that legal product do not get diverted to illegal markets.

He also expressed concerns about illicit opium poppy production in some parts of the country, and urged India to "continue to investigate cases of large, illicit poppy production and accordingly bring perpetrators to trial."

The US president expressed concerns about drug trafficking in Central America, citing operations by cartels feeling tougher counter-narcotics regimes in places like Mexico and Colombia.

"Often unimpeded, traffickers use long Central American coastlines for illegal maritime drug shipments. Even though there have been noteworthy seizures, a high proportion of drugs transiting Central America are not detected or seized," he said.

Bush also cited the need for international help for West African countries that have become "key transit hubs" for South American cocaine and lack the resources to battle the narcotics traffickers who undermine their stability.

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Ailing Suu Kyi accepts food rations: Myanmar official
by Hla Hla Htay
Tue Sep 16, 8:02 AM ET

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has accepted food rations for the first time in a month, an official said Tuesday, after her doctor found her so weak that he placed her on a drip.

The doctor administered intravenous fluids Sunday to the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been confined to her lakeside Yangon home for most of the last 19 years, the official said.

"She accepted her food supplies Monday evening, after she was given a drip by her doctor, who found that she was too weak on Sunday," the official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Her lawyer Kyi Win on Monday described her as "malnourished" after she had refused to accept her daily rations since August 16.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party released a statement Tuesday saying that she was not staging a hunger strike, but was eating "thriftily" from the small supplies stored in her home.

However, the NLD said that her health was weakening because she had given most of the stored food to her ailing housekeeper.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was eating thriftily because she gave her food to her housekeeper, Daw Khin Khin Win, who is not in good health," the statement said, using an honorific before her name. "Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's health is weakening."

Khin Khin Win and her daughter stay voluntarily in the home to care for the woman known here simply as "The Lady." The maid's daughter was hospitalised on Friday with kidney problems.

Concerns for Aung San Suu Kyi's health have mounted over the last month.

The lawyer Kyi Win has also denied that she was on a hunger strike, but said she had stopped accepting food deliveries to press for greater human rights.

Her action came amid a rare series of meetings with Kyi Win to discuss filing a formal legal appeal against detention.

Kyi Win has also been in talks with military officials on loosening the terms of her confinement, by allowing her to receive magazines and letters from her family, or allowing her maids to move freely in and out of her home.

The Myanmar official said that Aung San Suu Kyi had been allowed to receive copies of news magazines such as Time and Newsweek, but so far she had not been allowed to receive any messages from her family.

She has had no communication from her two sons since 2003, according to NLD.

Both the government official and NLD spokesman Nyan Win said that she would likely meet with the junta's liaison officer later this week, if her strength improves.

"We hope there will be some progress and good results after the meeting," Nyan Win said.

"We are also expecting to develop to higher-level talks between Daw Suu and senior leadership from this dialogue," he added.

Aung San Suu Kyi has refused to meet with anyone other than her lawyer and her doctor since early August, declining to hold talks with visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari and with the liaison officer, Labour Minister Aung Kyi.

Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 election but the junta never allowed it to take office. The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962.

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New arrest warrant issued for Thaksin over Myanmar loan
Tue Sep 16, 2:37 AM ET

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand's Supreme Court on Tuesday issued another arrest warrant for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra for his approval of a controversial loan to military-ruled Myanmar.

The court said it would not begin hearing the case until Thaksin returns from his self-imposed exile in Britain, where he fled to avoid prosecution for this and other charges that he says are politically motivated.

"Today is the first hearing and the defendent failed to appear even though he has received a summons," judge Panya Suthibodi said.

"The court has ordered an arrest warrant for him. Because we don't know when the defendent will come back, the case will be temporarily suspended from the court's caselist," he added.

Investigators say Thaksin wrongly ordered the Exim Bank to increase a three-billion- baht (89.6-million- dollar) loan to four billion baht, so that Myanmar's ruling junta could buy more services from ShinSat.

ShinSat is part of the Shin Corp telecom firm, which Thaksin founded. His family sold the company to Singapore's state-linked Temasek Holdings in January 2006 in a tax-free deal that prompted street protests leading to the military coup against him.

The court had already issued an arrest warrant for Thaksin and his wife Pojaman last month after they both skipped bail and fled to Britain to avoid corruption charges in a property scandal.

The pair were accused of using Thaksin's political influence to win a bargain-priced property deal for Pojaman.

The court is expected to hand down its verdict in that case on Wednesday.

Pojaman has separately been convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to three years in jail. Thaksin still faces a raft of other charges, including one that accuses the billionaire tycoon of being "unusually rich."

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Singapore defends move against Myanmar activists
Wed Sep 17, 3:08 AM ET

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Singapore has defended its decision not to renew the visas of some Myanmar nationals working or studying in the city-state, saying they were "undesirable" people.

Minister for Home Affairs Wong Kan Seng said there was no political pressure to move against the Myanmar nationals, who had participated in a Singapore protest against their country's military rulers.

"The recent immigration actions taken by ICA (Immigration and Checkpoints Authority) against a few Myanmar nationals were not the result of political pressure or requests from the Myanmar government," he said in a written reply, released Wednesday, to a question in parliament.

Wong denounced the Myanmar activists for politicising the visa issue and said the immigration office had "rightly decided that such persons are undesirable and that they should leave".

While the majority of Myanmar nationals in Singapore are law-abiding, Wong singled out a small group he said "had persistently defied our laws in pursuing their political agenda".

Members of this group had participated in an "illegal" demonstration during a summit of Southeast Asian leaders hosted by Singapore last year, he said, adding that their protest was deliberately held near the venue to attract public and media attention.

Three Myanmar nationals who joined the protest were forced to leave Singapore this year after their visas were not renewed, said Myo Myint Maung, a student speaking for the group.

Three others, who are Singapore permanent residents and who had also joined the protest, had their visas extended for one year instead of the usual five years, Myo Myint Maung told AFP.

Protests are rare in Singapore, where a gathering of five or more people without a permit is illegal.

International rights groups have accused Myanmar's military leaders of committing massive human rights violations against their citizens.

Singapore and Myanmar belong to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which also covers Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Tainted milk sickens 6,000 babies in China
Wed Sep 17, 10:27 AM ET
by Peter Harmsen

BEIJING (AFP) - China said Wednesday more than 6,000 babies had fallen ill and three died after drinking milk powder contaminated with a toxic chemical, as it vowed massive efforts to contain a widening food scandal.

In the latest debacle to tarnish the "Made in China" label, authorities admitted two of 22 companies found to have melamine in their milk powder were exporting abroad, and that tainted yogurt had been found in Hong Kong.

Melamine, a chemical normally used to make plastics and glues, appeared to have been added to make the products seem richer in protein, and China's two biggest dairy companies were among those found to have contaminated products.

"Everyone in our family is very worried," said Qi Yunzhong, a teacher at a primary school in northwest China's Gansu province whose son got kidney stones after drinking tainted milk powder.

"Every day there is a long line out in front of the hospital. The families are worried and everyone has stopped using milk powder," he told AFP by phone.

In Beijing, Health Minister Chen Zhu said 6,244 infants across the country had fallen ill and three died after consuming the milk powder over a period of many months.

The number of sick was up fivefold from official numbers given Tuesday.

While many had now recovered, 1,327 remained in hospital, of whom 158 were suffering or recovering from acute kidney failure, Chen said as he gave the government's first detailed account of the scandal.

China's Cabinet, in a meeting headed by Premier Wen Jiabao, criticised "flaws" in dairy market supervision, state TV said, in an admission of official failures.

"(The scandal) has shown us that the dairy market is chaotic, flaws exist in supervision mechanisms, and supervision work is weak," state-run CCTV said in summarising the conclusions of the Cabinet meeting.

Speaking at the same briefing Chen, the head of the nation's product quality watchdog, Li Changjiang, said every dairy producer in China would be tested to ensure the safety of their products.

Meanwhile, authorities waited to see if tainted products turned up overseas after officials said two of the companies had exports to Bangladesh, Burundi, Gabon, Myanmar and Yemen.

Li of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, gave no indication if the exports were contaminated but said the companies involved were recalling their products.

Bangladesh said Wednesday that food and commerce officials would meet this weekend to determine whether tainted products had entered the South Asian nation.

Li also confirmed melamine was found in a yogurt ice-bar made by Yili, one of China's two biggest dairy producers, which was sold in the southern territory of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong supermarket chain Wellcome has recalled the product, and Li said authorities would investigate how melamine got into it.

State-run Xinhua news agency reported late Wednesday that 22 people were being questioned in connection with the contaminated milk and that six had been arrested.

The arrested included two villagers charged with selling melamine and adding it to milk sold to the Sanlu Group, an owner of a private food additive shop who sold the chemical to milk dealers and two milk sellers who admitted to selling the tainted product.

Xinhua did not provide information on the sixth person, and it was unclear if their number of six arrests included the sacked chairwoman of Sanlu Group, who has been detained.

The scandal is the latest to rock China's food industry, which has been tarnished in recent years by a series of health scares over dangerous products, some of which have been exported.

In one of them, melamine was also found in Chinese pet food exported to the United States last year that killed dogs and cats.

Amid last year's scandals, which also extended to products such as toys containing lead-based paint, Chinese authorities vowed to improve the safety of its food and manufacturing industries.

However, the scandal has given rise to questions over whether authorities had initially tried to cover up the crisis.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said this week her country "blew the whistle" on the continued sale of the milk powder after Chinese authorities refused to act.

The first of the baby deaths occurred May 1, more than four months before the scandal became public.

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Amnesty urges global pledge on small weapons sales
Wed Sep 17, 7:59 PM ET

LONDON (AFP) - World governments should pledge to actively prevent sales of weapons that are likely to be used in human rights violations in a new arms treaty under negotiation, Amnesty International said Wednesday.

Whether used by the military in Myanmar to disperse protesters in September 2007, or by Somali armed factions terrorising the streets of Mogadishu, the human rights group warned small weapons had "catastrophic" effects worldwide.

The system of national laws regulating arms sales is a "shambles", Amnesty said in a new report, enabling unrestrained weapons trading that "allows massive violation of human rights to occur".

Although 153 countries voted for a UN motion to start work on a global arms treaty in December 2006, Amnesty accused the United States -- which rejected the motion -- China, Egypt, India, Pakistan and Russia of stalling.

UN member states are due to discuss progress on the treaty next month.

"Despite the massive green light from most of the world community, a small minority of sceptics want to keep the status quo shambles so they can turn a blind eye to blatantly irresponsible arms transfers, rendering most national arms controls and UN arms embargoes weak and ineffective, " said Amnesty's arms control manager, Brian Wood.

The report, 'Blood at the Crossroads', catalogues some of the devastation caused by light weapons in nine countries, including in Darfur, Colombia, Guatemala and Guinea, and highlights Iraq as a particular problem.

The US Department of Defence has funded most of the supply of more than one million rifles, pistols and infantry weapons for 530,000 Iraqi security personnel "in a poorly managed and unaccountable process since 2003", it says.

It complains that the contracting out of these weapons deals makes it "virtually impossible for those authorising weapons and munitions transfers to accurately document how many were supplied and to whom".

This "mismanagement" has "contributed significantly" to the sectarian violence that has wracked the country since the 2003 US-led invasion, it said.

"Governments can either carry on ignoring the horrific consequences of irresponsible international arms transfers or they can meet their obligations in an arms trade treaty with a 'golden rule' on human rights that will actually help save people's lives," said researcher Helen Hughes.

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NHPC ventures into Myanmar
The Times of India - 17 Sep 2008, 0056 hrs IST,
Sanjay Dutta,TNN

NEW DELHI: Continued courtship of Myanmar's ruling junta, even after it dumped New Delhi in favour of Beijing for piping natural gas, seems to be paying off for India.

State-owned hydel utility NHPC is getting its first foothold in that country with a preliminary deal for constructing two hydel projects that will eventually supply power to four bordering Indian states — and maybe the national grid. NHPC and the Myanmar government on Tuesday inked an MoU for constructing the Tamanthi and Shwzaye hydel projects aggregating 1,800mw capcity on Chindwin river. NHPC will now update the previous studies made on the projects.

Once that stage is completed, the two sides will form a joint venture for constructing the projects and commercially run them. Doors of progress opened during junior minister for commerce and power Jairam Ramesh's June visit to Yangon.

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Myanmar: Health cluster situation report no. 43, 16 Sep 2008
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
ReliefWeb - Date: 16 Sep 2008

HIGHLIGHTS
- There has been a marked reduction in number of cases of dengue over the past three months.
- The Myanmar Government's national programme for malaria is currently undertaking a "malaria risk assessment".
- In some areas of the delta some health cluster partners are gradually phasing out their activities.

SITUATION UPDATE
- Clean drinking water remains a major problem in the delta, and although a large number of ponds have been cleaned, many remain salinated.
- The Myanmar Government's national programme for malaria is currently undertaking a "malaria risk assessment". Data to date indicate that the majority (70-75%) of malaria cases in Myanmar are males. Mapping of malaria-endemic regions is needed to ensure that adequate numbers of mosquito nets are provided to match the needs in different regions.

HEALTH CLUSTER RESPONSE
1. Disease Surveillance
- Week 36 (1-7 Sept 2008) of the Early Warning, Alert and Response (EWARS) method of disease surveillance had reports of 24 cases of dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF), four cases of suspected measles and two cases of suspected tetanus.
- Twenty of the 24 DHF cases were from Pathein General Hospital. The remaining cases were from Mawlamyinegyun and Wakema (two cases each). Larviciding with 'abate' in order to tackle dengue in those areas continues.
- All measles cases were reported from Labutta, in patients above the age of 5 years. Measles surveillance in the area is being strengthened and case-based immunization is ongoing.
- The suspected tetanus cases were construction workers who were pricked by nails. They have been given tetanus-toxoid shots.
- There has been a marked reduction in number of cases of dengue over the past three months: 670 cases in June; 873 cases in July and 326 cases in August. Case fatality rate of Dengue has been low: in Ayeyarwaddy division is 0.34% (8 out of 2335) and for Yangon division it is 0.57% (16 out of 2704). Both numbers are lower than the 1% CFR used as the international standard.
- An in-depth analysis will need to be conducted with the MOH to see whether the decrease in dengue cases correlates with larviciding campaigns.

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MYANMAR: Health of cyclone-affected children improves
17 Sep 2008 07:43:17 GMT

YANGON , 17 September 2008 (IRIN) - The health of children under five in cyclone-affected Myanmar is improving, say specialists, despite huge challenges.
Initially, children living in the storm-hit areas were thought to be at a higher risk of acute malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies because of poor access to food and a balanced diet.

"The situation is getting better... curative and preventive services in health and nutrition have been reaching most of the vulnerable children and women even in hard-to-reach areas, and damaged health facilities and services are being rehabilitated, " Osamu Kunii, chief of health and nutrition at the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), told IRIN in Yangon, the former capital.

The nutritional status of children was poor even before Cyclone Nargis slammed into Myanmar, leaving almost 140,000 people dead or missing and affecting 2.4 million people more.

Approximately one-third of children in Myanmar are malnourished, and about one-fifth of newborns are underweight, according to this year's State of the World's Children report [see: http://www.unicef. org/sowc08/ report/report. php].

Added to that was an increased risk of communicable diseases, with many children lacking access to safe drinking water and sanitation in the aftermath of Nargis, Kunii said.
According to the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) report [see: http://www.asean. org/21765. pdf] 42 percent of households lost all their food stocks during the cyclone, with another 33 percent losing most or some of their stocks.

In addition, about 75 percent of health facilities in the storm-hit areas were damaged.

Initial fears not realised

Yet initial fears of nutrition rates deteriorating further were not realised, aid workers noted.

"As per our findings, the condition of health and nutrition of the children is almost back to normal. It's not a big problem any more," said Souheil Reaiche, head of mission for Médecins Sans Frontières-Switzerla nd.

According to its survey of more than 22,000 children screened for malnutrition at mobile clinics in the cyclone-affected townships of Bogale and Pyapon, 0.2 percent of the children were severely malnourished, while 2.6 percent and 14 percent were moderately malnourished and at risk of malnutrition respectively.

In Ngaputaw and Myaungmya, 0.6 percent of the children were severely malnourished, while 6.6 percent and 10 percent of the children were moderately malnourished and at risk of malnutrition respectively, reported Save the Children.

In Labutta, said Merlin, 0.25 percent of under-fives were severely malnourished, while 3.6 percent and 21 percent of the children were moderately malnourished and at risk respectively.

"These indicators are not high, they are just average," said Khin Maung Pyone, a medical coordinator for the NGO in Labutta.

According to the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (2003) conducted by the Department of Health Planning and National Nutrition Centre, severe acute malnutrition rates averaged 1.7 percent for all under-fives in Myanmar.

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