Inspired Individuals

Dr SaSa grew up in the Chin state in Myanmar, which is a restricted area of country where no one can travel freely. Dr SaSa was identified at an early age of having unique qualities and skills that the village folk hoped would help them in the future. Since there were no secondary schools in Chin state at the age of 13, he was forced to leave his village and go to Yangon (capital) to study. It was a very difficult time being alone and from a minority group. He lived there for 2 years living on his own with no family contact. He finished his high school education but in 1997, the Myanmar regime closed all colleges and universities across country – this lasted three years. This forced Dr SaSa to return to his home village where he became a volunteer teacher at the local school. During this time he witnessed firsthand suffering of the sick, elderly and mothers-to-be who had no access to any form of medical support. There was no government health care system in Chin state, and many people die from easily treatable diseases or illnesses. This made Dr SaSa resolute to study medicine and come back to ensure his people would not continue to suffer. In 1999 the villages all contributed to sending Dr SaSa to India to study science and he then qualified to study medicine in Armenia. He qualified as a doctor in 2009 and has returned to the border region of Myanmar where he has set up a community-based health care programme that trains over 100 community health care workers and provides them with some basic medication.

Myanmar is a dictatorship run by a military junta following a coup. Reports of political oppression are continually reported with the legitimate leader, Aung San Suu Kyi still remains in prison following victory in free and fair elections. At the moment Myanmar has more than 2,000 political prisoners and more than 70,000 child soldiers, many of them fighting ethnic minority groups along the border regions where forced labour, rapes, executions and torture, are common place. Ethnic minorities, especially Christian one, are severally marginalised and receive little government support. As a result child mortality and other health related statistics are extremely high with about three out of five children aged under five die due to treatable and preventable diseases. Over half a million people are living with HIV, almost all who have no access to care or treatment. Every year 70,000 people die from TB, malaria and treatable waterborne diseases. Amongst the Chin ethnic minority group the situation is the worst. There is no government health care system, no secondary schooling, and the whole region is restricted access not allowing any foreign aid or support.

Dr SaSa studied medicine with the goal of establishing a community-wide primary health care system amongst the Chin people. Over the past few years, Chin state has suffered from a famine due to the phenomenon known as Bamboo flowering. The region is suffering from drought and also from a rat plague. Dr SaSa often returned to the region during his studies to set up a relief programme for these suffering communities. On completion of his medical degree in 2009, Dr SaSa retuned to the border region where he established a training centre for community health care workers. He is currently implementing the first community-based primary health care programme across all Chin state. He is training over 300 primary health care workers who come for three month training every few months and then return to their villages to put into practice what they have learned.