19.03.2025 12:01 PM

More than a million children in Myanmar are missing out on essential vaccines, making Myanmar one of the countries with the highest number of unvaccinated children in the world, UNICEF Myanmar said in a report titled “Avoiding a Lost Generation.”

Myanmar has been grappling with a range of escalating conflicts for four years now, with the worst impacts on Myanmar’s children, UNICEF Myanmar said. Violence, displacement and disruption of essential services such as health and education are all threatening the survival and well-being of Myanmar’s children, with around a third of those displaced being children, forced from their homes and communities, and now facing an uncertain future, UNICEF Myanmar said in a statement that 750 children were killed or injured in the conflict in 2024, and that number is rising.

The near collapse of basic services is pushing children and their families into danger; the public health system, already weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, is now severely damaged by conflict, insecurity and the exodus of health workers, leaving many children without access to essential health care; more than one million children are missing out on essential vaccinations; and Myanmar has become one of the world’s most unvaccinated countries, putting it at increased risk of life-threatening diseases.

In addition, nearly five million children are missing out on education and missing out on learning opportunities, and are being forcibly recruited by parties to the conflict, used as child labor, The UNICEF report also states that they face serious risks, including forced marriage and exploitation.

Food insecurity and malnutrition are at alarming levels, with 55 percent of children in Myanmar living in poverty. Natural disasters, including severe storms and annual monsoon floods, have also exacerbated the plight of children in Myanmar. In 2024, Cyclone Ragi affected more than 300,000 children and destroyed many schools. Overcrowded refugee camps and vulnerable communities are facing severe water-borne diarrheal diseases and poor living conditions, the effects of which will continue until 2025, UNICEF said in a statement.