var caption14_1 = 'In the rainy season, the incidence of malaria soars among difficult to count refugees, migrants, undocumented, and internally displaced: all people condemned to foreign food rations, crowded camps, slavery wages in sweatshops, and garbage. This market is situated outside the Mawker Thei malaria clinic run by SMRU (Shokalo Malaria Research) on the Moi River which is the border between Thailand and Burma.';
var caption14_2 = 'Nearly 1.5 million people, mostly ethnic people have been uprooted from their homes and land by the Burmese military dictatorship, or they have fled from poverty and 80% unemployment. Many live in border camps like Mae La, 60 km north of Mae Sot, Thailand. Here 50,000 people are dependent upon outside donors for all their needs. They are not allowed to travel or grow food. They are unable to work. "Even the Thai’s restrict the bamboo we can cut for our houses", my young guide, Hoo, tells me. It is the rainy season. Malaria is endemic. They have all had it.
These girls go to school and live in an orphanage dorm, supported by the Umbrella Project, created by two Canadians Kathy and David Downham. Refugees have three options: Stay here, be repatriated to Burma, or maybe be chosen to immigrate to "The West".';
var caption14_3 = 'One of 90 girls preens herself in front of the only mirror that hangs in the school dorm, called Kaw Tha Blay, where they live, without parents, in Mae La refugee camp. "They are here so that they can go to school" says Shokalo, my guide, who works for the Canadians whose "Project Umbrella" funds the dormitory. "Their parents who are either in other camps, stranded inside Burma and too poor, or sick, to look after them, or dead". He says. It is raining and they are all getting ready to pose for a "group photo".';
var caption14_4 = 'We are traveling along a rough and remote side road that crosses into Burma. The Karen army controls this area of the border. Just inside Burma is an IDP camp (Internally Displaced People), where about 100 families live with nothing after having their food stolen and crops burned, fearing from landmines, or forced into carrying supplies for the Burmese military, or worse. We came here with two medics that work at the malaria clinic in Le Per Her IDP camp.
Every time undocumented people travel they risk either being arrested or having to pay off authorities.';
var caption14_5 = 'The garbage dump for Mae Sot, Thailand, is home to over 300 migrant people who live off savaging this border town’s garbage. Every morning these "illegals" jostle for position while waiting for the next truck to arrive with it’s stenchy cargo. Farther down the road I watched an old man sort cardboard for which he sells for 5 baht (15 cents), for 20 kilos. The only other "jobs" available to this people are in the 100’s" of sweat shops (that manufacture export products ranging from clothing, plastic flowers, to electronic components) conveniently located along the border, where most clear (after "security fees", food and a shelf-like bed are deducted), around 1000 baht ($30) per month.
One of the biggest enemies of malaria is early diagnosis, which is unlikely among transient, undocumented populations, and especially here in the rainy season.';
var caption14_6 = 'These children were playing on the walkway between two wards in Dr. Cynthia Maung’s clinic for refugees in Mae Sot, Thailand. Here when a patient is admitted, it is as likely as not that the whole family comes along. It is common to see looking after children while parents lay sick on the hard bamboo beds in nearby wards. Twenty years I met Dr. Cynthia when she first set up a clinic on the border. Today over 200 trained people serve 1000’s of patients every month. She has visiting volunteers from around the world, and donors that include the Canadian International Development Agency.';
var caption14_7 = 'Le Per Her is a small IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp five hours drive north of Mae Sot, over at least two mountain ranges, and down a washed out road between expansive fields of the young corn. The people here had to flee their village when the Burmese attached and burned them out three years ago.
Once a month babies are brought to the clinic where they are weighed and a blood sample analysed to detect any plasmodium parasites. Out of 26 children seen by the medics, 14 had malaria. Held close by her father, this young girl was one of the few showing any symptoms.
Fanscois Dastom, Director of the SMRU malaria research center in Mae Sot.';
var caption14_8 = 'SMRU Wang Pang Clinic: Malaria blood tests. Some of the patients are new others come as part of the ongoing long term research on the effects of malaria.';
var caption14_9 = 'Mae Tao Clinic. A malaria patient is admitted and the blood test indicated server cerebral malaria. The patient is being prepared for a blood transfusion and treatment. Last year, the Mae Tao Clinic employed 200 workers, maintained 120 inpatient beds, and treated over 100,000 patients. Over the years the clinic has trained hundreds of health care workers, often through the work of international volunteers.';
var caption14_10 = 'Mae Tao Clinic: A women arrives from Burma with her husband. She is nearly unconscious. She has servere faciparum malaria and a team of medics try to find a vein for the IV.';
var caption14_11 = 'SMRU Mawker Tai clinic on the bank of the Moi River, and the border between Burma and Thailand, about one hour drive south of Mae Sot. A boat brings people across the river to the clinic for 5 Baht (15 cents). There is no visible security here. This border, like the hundreds of "unofficial" border crossing is porus for those seeking medical help, or who pay and understand the local power struggles that pervade this remote and war torn territory. Today mothers and expectant mothers receive ultra sound and blood tests for "on the spot" malaria diagnosis. Some are participating in long term studies of cardiac and other problems associated with repeated bouts of malaria. Sterlizing mosquitos is simply not practical says Prof. Francois, the Director of SMRU and an expert on malaria, especially here at the epicenter of the world’s most resistance plasmodium parasites. "One very practical solution is to detect and treat it before symptoms show."';
var caption14_12 = 'Le Per Her IDP (Internally Displaced People) camp about one kilometer inside Burma. A clinic funded by the estate of an Austrian women is where Women bring their babies to get weighed and for a blood test for malaria.';
var caption14_13 = 'Malaria ward, Mae Tao Clinic, Mae Sot. Today there have been four new malaria cases admitted. "Unfortunately, most people don’t come here until they are very sick" says Saw Too, 29 year old medic. "Police and border authorities are less likely to be a problem if someone is really sick."';
var caption14_14 = 'Mae Tao Clinic. A father watches through the window of the malaria ward. He brought his boy three times, from their village across the river in Burma. His son is barely conscious, and one of 3 people admitted so far today. Last year, the Mae Tao Clinic employed 200 workers, maintained 120 inpatient beds, and treated over 100,000 patients. Over the years the clinic has trained hundreds of health care workers, often through the work of international volunteers.';
var caption14_15 = 'Mae Tao Clinic, Mae Sot. The woman in the forground is from Mae La camp, one of 10 official refugee camps on the Thai side of the border. A young medic asks her some questions for me. She has had malaria many times. Now she also has tuberculosis. She has no money. Fortunately Dr. Cynthia’s clinic feeds the patients and their families twice a day.
The Mae Tao clinic treats over 100, patients every year, the vast majority of them are illegal migrants. Most come from far away inside rural Burma.';
var caption14_16 = 'This man was brought to the Mae Tao Clinic by his wife and brother in law. They had walked four days from inside Burma. This was the closest place to get help. By the time they reached here, the father of three had falcipurum malaris so severe that he required a blood transfusion. He was unconscious for nearly three days. His wife was by his side the whole time. In service of protecting patient vulnerability no names are used in any of the text accompanying the photography.';
var caption14_17 = 'SMRU Wang Pang clinic: A 26 year old waits for the result of his blood test which will determine his treatment. SMRU clinics serve a population of 15-20,000. Since 1986 over 10,000 people have been enrolled in more than 18 studies with over 90% patients attending follow up assessments.';
var caption14_18 = 'SMRU Wang Pang clinic: A 26 year old waits for the result of his blood test which will determine his treatment. SMRU clinics serve a population of 15-20,000. Since 1986 over 10,000 people have been enrolled in more than 18 studies with over 90% patients attending follow up assessments.';
var caption14_19 = 'SMRU Wang Pang clinic: A 26 year old waits for the result of his blood test which will determine his treatment. SMRU clinics serve a population of 15-20,000. Since 1986 over 10,000 people have been enrolled in more than 18 studies with over 90% patients attending follow up assessments.';
var caption14_20 = 'SMRU Mawker Thei malaria clinic. Zo Zo is 26 years old and was brought in my his father from a village across the river. The plasmodium parasites have impaired his liver function. His urine is full of blood. Margos, the young doctor from Holland who attends the man he calls Zo Zo, is relieved to find that the "blockage" was in the line and not in the patient, which will be transferred to the Mae Tao clinic for a blood transfusion. Zo Zo is unconscious. Without a blood transfusion Zo Zo will probably die. He was almost here too late.';
var caption14_21 = 'Human Rights and Malaria on the Thai | Burma border';
var caption14_22 = 'Mae Tao Clinic. Malari victim recovers from being unconscious for the last three days. He was one of four people admitted that day. Last year the Mae Tao Clinic employed 200 workers maintained 120 inpatient beds, and treated over 100,000 patients. Over the years the clinic has trained hundreds of health care workers, often through the work of international volunteers.';
var caption14_23 = 'Mae Tao Clinic, founded by Dr. Cynthia Maung, has been providing health services to displaced populations from Burma for 17 years. This clinic is vital to the border migrant population. Dr. Cynthia sees "health and human rights as inextricably linked" "Part of our responsibility at the clinic is to teach people about their human rights, including health".';
var caption14_24 = 'Mae Tao Clinic. Last year the Mae Tao Clinic employed 200 workers maintained 120 inpatient beds, and treated over 100,000 patients. Over the years the clinic has trained hundreds of health care workers, often through the work of international volunteers.';
var caption14_25 = 'Mae Tao Clinic: Two men wrench from what a young medic describes as a combination of malaria and tuberculosis. "Our mission" says Dr. Cynthia, "is to learn how to respect each other. We must build our confidence and communicate, and promote dignity and human rights education."';
var caption14_26 = 'Le Per Her IDP camp. A young man tends communal cooking fires for the student hostel that looks after the 60 students, many orphans, who are here, because there is teacher and basic school, as opposed to no education where they came from - living in the jungle, on the run, further inside rural Burma. Recent studies show that people dislocated from their homes have three times the malaria infection rate.';
var caption14_27 = 'For 5 baht, about 15 cents, a boat ferry Internally Displaced people back and forth to Thailand. At this border they come mostly for the malaria clinic. In the background is the SMRU clinic.';