Nurse Moe Moe, Myanmar: "I want to do my bit"

Over two months after Cyclone Nargis hit the country, leaving nearly 140,000 dead or missing and 2.4 million badly affected, thousands of people throughout the Ayeyarwady Delta are struggling to restart their lives. On the front-line of the relief effort, Moe Moe, 27, one of scores of government nurses working in the area, told IRIN in the tiny village of Thaman Chaung in Bogale Township what she was doing to serve her community.

"I was inside the clinic when the storm struck on 2 May. I will never forget it. It was horrific. Within seconds, the building collapsed around me and I found myself being swept away by a torrent of water. I grabbed what few medical instruments I could. As I drifted towards the River Bogale - my medical instruments close to my chest - a villager saved me. Had it not been for him, I would surely have drowned.

"Those instruments have since become very precious to me, proving very useful in treating many of the cyclone-injured later on. In my job as a nurse, our government clinic generally served just five villages in the area. Today I'm looking after 12 with a caseload of around 1,400 or so, as some of the other health workers in the area were killed.

"It's been tough. Most of the people I've had to deal with were injured in the cyclone. So far I have received some assistance from UNICEF [the UN Children's Fund] and WHO [the World Health Organization], including medicine to treat many of those affected. There haven't been any serious outbreaks of diarrhoea as earlier feared, although there were a few cases in the first few weeks after the storm. Right now the main thing people are suffering from is cold and flu.

"It gives me purpose"

"There are about 30 pregnant women in my area coming into the makeshift clinic we have erected - thanks to some help from some NGOs [non-governmental organisations]. The Ministry of Health has established a number of small clinics across the area to which they have assigned doctors and nurses to work.

"While I work, I always try to educate people about living healthier lives, highlighting important issues such as water and sanitation. Most people are getting the message. Until now, there have been no reports of dengue fever in my villages. I also provide people with chlorine to clean their pots and pans.

Photo: Lynn Maung/IRIN

The makeshift health clinic where Moe Moe now works and sleeps

"It's been two years that I have been working here and I like my job. I want to do my bit. It gives me a purpose and the villagers value my efforts. At the moment, I'm living in the clinic as there is nowhere else for me to live. One day, I hope to further my nursing qualifications by taking more courses, but that will have to wait. There is too much to do.

"Even now, I find myself spending my own money to buy medicine for those patients who cannot afford it, as well as ice to keep the medicine cabinet cool. I never ask the patients to pay for the ice. I know they don't have it.

"Hopefully, we can one day rebuild this clinic - and build back stronger. As you see, it's rather makeshift here now - put together with nothing more than plastic sheeting and hard cloth. When it rains, the roof leaks and water passes through the walls. Sometimes even the medicine I keep in the cupboard gets wet and I worry it could become spoiled.

"Right now, the most urgent need in this area is access to clean water. It's vital. Traditionally, people get their drinking water from area ponds and lakes which were inundated by the flood waters and now pose a health risk to residents.

"The second most urgent need, however, is tools for people to restart their livelihoods, most of whom are involved in either agriculture or fishing. If you don't have tools, you can't work. And if you can't work, you can't buy the food you need to stay healthy, leaving you vulnerable to disease and other forms of infection."

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