title: Health and Human Rights in Karen State, Eastern Myanmar.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Decades of conflict in eastern Myanmar have resulted in high prevalence of human rights violations and poor health outcomes. While recent ceasefire agreements have reduced conflict in this area, it is unknown whether this has resulted in concomitant reductions in human rights violations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We conducted a two-stage cluster survey of 686 households in eastern Myanmar to assess health status, access to healthcare, food security, exposure to human rights violations and identification of alleged perpetrators over the 12 months prior to January 2012, a period of near-absence of conflict in this region. Household hunger (FANTA-2 scale) was moderate/high in 91 (13.2%) households, while the proportion of households reporting food shortages in each month of 2011 ranged from 19.9% in December to 47.0% in September, with food insecurity peaking just prior to the harvest. Diarrhea prevalence in children was 14.2% and in everyone it was 5.8%. Forced labor was the most common human rights violation (185 households, 24.9%), and 210 households (30.6%) reported experiencing one or more human rights violations in 2011. Multiple logistic regression analysis identified associations between human rights violations and poor health outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Human rights violations and their health consequences persist despite reduced intensity of conflict in eastern Myanmar. Ceasefire agreements should include language that protects human rights, and reconciliation efforts should address the health consequences of decades of human rights violations.
authors: Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors: William W
authors: WW
authors: Davis
authors: Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors: Luke C
authors: LC
authors: Mullany
authors: Karen Department of Health and Welfare, Mae Sot, Thailand.
authors: Eh Kalu
authors: EK
authors: Shwe Oo
authors: Division of General Internal Medicine and Health Services Research, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America; Community Partners International, 2550 Ninth St. Suite 111, Berkeley, California, 94710, United States of America.
authors: Adam K
authors: AK
authors: Richards
authors: Physicians for Human Rights, New York City, New York, United States of America; University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America; Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley, California, United States of America.
authors: Vincent
authors: V
authors: Iacopino
authors: Center for Public Health and Human Rights, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
authors: Chris
authors: C
authors: Beyrer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006798:Housing; D006806:Human Rights / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D002052:Myanmar; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult