How to Help Victims of the Myanmar Earthquake
After a devastating earthquake in central Myanmar, medical workers are seen next to medical materials placed in the compound of a hospital in the country's capital, Naypyidaw, on March 28, 2025. Credit - Sai Aung–Getty Images
Relief efforts continue in Southeast Asia after a devastating 7.7 earthquake shook Myanmar and its neighbors on Friday, March 28. Per an update shared by the Myanmar authorities on Saturday, the death toll has risen above 1,600. In addition, authorities report over 3,000 people are injured, with over 100 others missing.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, Bangkok city authorities have reported 10 fatalities—nine at the site of the collapse of a high-rise building under construction—while over 70 people are said to be unaccounted for.
Read More: Photos Show Devastating Impact of Powerful Earthquake That Rocked Myanmar and Thailand
Myanmar's ruling military junta declared a state of emergency in several regions affected by the earthquake on Friday, and called for humanitarian aid in a rare show of international appeal.
Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, is among the hardest-hit areas, with widespread destruction and reports of mass injuries.
As the affected areas continue to recover—a process that has only just begun—countries around the globe have come out to send humanitarian aid.
Here are the ways that you can help victims of the Myanmar earthquake.
The United Nations is calling for donations in addition to an initial allocation of $5 million from the U.N. Emergency Fund by Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher. Donations will go directly to the Myanmar Humanitarian Fund, and will 'provide them with urgently needed food, water, shelter and other basic support at this critical time.'
The 'Red Cross Red Crescent is working to deliver emergency relief and to get help to those impacted by the earthquake as quickly as possible.' Teams from the Myanmar Red Cross Society are also working to connect hospitals and clinics with emergency blood donations.
UNICEF, originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, runs disaster relief operations focused on children's needs. The agency has asked for donations specifically for children impacted and displaced by the earthquake. 'UNICEF and partners are reaching children in need, including in front line and hard-to-reach areas, with lifesaving services despite these significant challenges—but critically low funding remains a major issue,' UNICEF's website reads.
Save the Children is an international nongovernmental organization (NGO) that works specifically to protect children at risk. They have launched a 'Children's Emergency Fund' for youths in Myanmar in need of shelter and other basic needs in the aftermath of the disaster.
Project HOPE is working to 'address both urgent and long-term needs, including primary and mental health, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene,' for those affected by the earthquake. The nonprofit organization has previously responded to other natural disasters by deploying humanitarian aid to places such as Morocco, Syria, Turkey, and Haiti.
Contact us at letters@time.com.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Big Data Can Make America Healthier. How to Do It Right
Credit - Ezra Bailey—Getty Images Big data can help make Americans healthier, and the Trump Administration has stated—in its recently released Make America Healthy Again report and elsewhere—that building a national big-data platform is one of its primary goals. As scientists who use large data sets to study health, we're excited about its potential and the willingness of the federal government to invest in it, particularly since big data has been underutilized in the U.S. compared with other developed countries—and since the number of ways it can be used grows nearly daily. It's a huge opportunity. But there are lots of concerns when assembling sensitive health data and combining it with other sensitive data, like credit scores, tax records, employment, educational records, and more. Some of those concerns with the Administration's plans have already surfaced. The Administration's first goal of assembling big data to studying autism has left some worried that if used inappropriately, such data could lead to harm, rather than help, for those with autism. Others worry that big data could be used to perform and justify shoddy research that supports predetermined conclusions without adhering to rigorous scientific methods—a concern reinforced by the discovery that the Make America Healthy Again report cited non-existent sources to support its claims. So how can we reap the benefits of big data while minimizing its risks? Here are some guiding principles: The health care system already possesses health data on millions of Americans. Medical records are now almost always digitized, permitting doctors' notes, medical imaging, laboratory tests, insurance claims, and more to be linked (in theory) across doctors' offices, hospitals, nursing homes, and any other place people receive care. However, data collected about a patient in one setting often doesn't get connected to data from other settings—making it hard for researchers to get a full picture of what, exactly, is happening to each of us within the larger health care system. Read More: Gun Injuries of All Kinds Go Up During Hunting Season The federal government also has data on us that can be connected to health care data to answer important questions. For example, comprehensive and detailed data on Americans' occupations linked with health, insurance, and other data could help shed more light on relationships between our work and our health—helping to better answer curious questions like why taxi drivers are less likely to die from Alzheimer's disease or why female physicians don't outlive their male colleagues. The first step of making big data more helpful is to simply link the data—which, while possible, is difficult to accomplish without centralized effort. Once linkages have been made, data can be anonymized so that those studying sensitive questions aren't privy to confidential information about specific individuals. In addition to governmental data, many other sources of data can provide insights into our health. For example, smartwatches not only have data on how our hearts are beating (e.g., they can identify abnormal heart rhythms like atrial fibrillation), but they can also identify subtle changes in mobility that might be predictive of early neuromuscular diseases like Parkinson's disease. Meanwhile, grocery stores have data on the foods we eat, and with increasing interest in how diet affects our lives, these data could be linked to detailed measures of health. Read More: Could the Shingles Vaccine Help Prevent Dementia? Similarly, social-media platforms possess data that can offer insights into changes in our mental health, and through large-scale analysis of online photos could even identify, in real time, early visible markers of disease. These are moonshots, of course, and whether we want to use data in this way is an open question. But the potential to improve health could be large. Creating a way for scientists to link outside data to existing government and health data—while responsibly maintaining individual anonymity after the linkage—could open many novel research opportunities. Keeping all of these data sources organized, secure, and accessible to scientists is a tall order. Researchers who use big data often dedicate substantial resources to finding the data they need, organizing it, and ensuring its accuracy; the better the database is maintained, the easier it is for researchers to actually perform their analyses. The secure online platform where Medicare and other government health care data are currently accessed has been described by researchers as 'tedious and prone to system errors' and in need of major improvements. Meanwhile, security concerns have led the government to stop letting researchers store the data on their own secure servers, the easiest and most cost-effective way to actually work with the data. Access to Medicare data by researchers has become prohibitively expensive, costing about $30,000 a year or more for a single user to work on one project using the online platform. Read More: Why We Can't Rely on Science Alone to Make Public Health Decisions Proposals to drastically cut medical research funding have been reported, and if passed, these research funding cuts will come at the cost of discoveries to improve health that will never be made. High-quality research of any kind requires investment, whether it's in a biology lab under a microscope or working with data on powerful computers. A new data platform is only as valuable as researchers' ability to access it in a functional and cost-effective way. Any roadmap to designing a national data platform that links together health care and other sensitive data must consider the many valid concerns about collecting data in the U.S., including privacy concerns and how data will be used. The Pew Research Center finds that large majorities of Americans say they are concerned about how the government uses data collected about them (71%), while also admitting that they have little to no understanding of what the government even does with such data (77%). Here are some strategies—in addition to many of the cybersecurity and privacy safeguards already in place—to both protect the data and help earn the public trust: Mistrust and unease with government data collection is readily traceable to historical abuse of Americans' data (as well as recent allegations of improper access), so it's not surprising that many are wary of the Trump Administration's plans. Ensuring data cannot be weaponized by the government against individuals is perhaps the single biggest barrier to creating a useful database, but it can be done. Those currently using federal health care data must already undergo training and comply with very high data-security standards. Misuse of the data—such as even attempting to figure out the identity of an anonymous individual in the data—or failure to protect patient privacy can lead to criminal penalties. A platform of sensitive data without well-delineated restrictions on who can use it and what they can use it for is a recipe for problems. Other ongoing efforts by the Administration to compile data under the vague goal of 'increasing government efficiency' have been met with pushback and lawsuits from organizations concerned about data being used against members of the public. Current use of federal health data also requires researchers to provide the government detailed plans to justify the use of specific data. This allows the government to ensure that no more data than is needed to answer the specific question is provided to researchers. Read More: Why Do Taxi Drivers Have a Lower Risk of Alzheimer's? Researchers must also obtain ethical approval from an Institutional Review Board prior to accessing and analyzing data, a second checkpoint. These boards, which exist in light of egregious failures of medical research ethics in the 20th century, help ensure that analyses are designed to minimize risk to patients—even if it is only their data, and not their bodies, at risk. Transparency into who is using this sensitive data and what exactly they are doing with it can engender trust between researchers and the American public. Just like researchers already do for clinical trials, those accessing the data platform should specify their plans in advance, and those plans should be easily and publicly available. Transparency around which data were accessed and what computer code was used to analyze it not only promotes trust, but such data- and code-sharing practices among researchers make it easier to appraise the quality of the work, identify mistakes, and root out misconduct. We can only assume that Americans' unease with governmental data use stems from knowledge that, as with all powerful tools, linked data has the potential to be used in potentially harmful ways. But when in the hands of qualified scientists using rigorous scientific methods and privacy safeguards, a robust real-world data platform like this could lead to new discoveries about how all of us can lead healthier lives. Contact us at letters@
Forbes
3 hours ago
- Forbes
Digital Health Solutions For Non-Communicable Disease Care In Zimbabwe
Village Health Workers in Zimbabwe use digital medical equipment and smartphones to facilitate childhood non-communicable disease testing, screening and treatment in under-resourced areas. In Zimbabwe, a Village Health Worker holds the smartphone she uses to transmit patient data to the public health system in real time. UNICEF supports the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care in strengthening its national health system. © UNICEF Connecting rural and remote communities to Zimbabwe's primary health system used to include delays of up to one month and loads of paperwork. Now, with the support of UNICEF and partners, the Ministry of Health and Child Care has equipped Village Health Workers with data-driven tools to make timely and lifesaving health care decisions. Digital health solutions like the use of a smartphone to transmit patient data in real time have empowered these workers to improve outcomes for children living with non-communicable diseases. Village Health Workers, trained volunteers who provide essential health and nutrition services to families and children, often work in remote areas that have limited access to health facilities. In the past, they recorded patient notes during their rounds that were then shared with the public health system, often long after the visit. 'We used to compile reports in a book which we would submit at the clinic at the end of the month. Now it is smoother and faster. Cellphones have been a game-changer,' says 52-year-old Margaret Denhera, a Village Health Worker in Luwana, Zimbabwe. Village Health Workers in Zimbabwe receive regular training on the digital medical equipment and devices they use on their rounds. © UNICEF 'I move around the village collecting information on non-communicable diseases. At the end of the day, I punch it into my phone,' says Denhera. She sends the data to the nearest health facility about 10 miles away. As the front line in Zimbabwe's public health system, Village Health Workers are often the first to identify non-communicable diseases like high blood pressure, chronic respiratory illness, cancer and diabetes. These diseases disproportionately affect people in developing countries, leading to the death of nearly 1 million people under age 20 each year worldwide. In Zimbabwe, NCDs are on the rise. Many, but by no means all, NCDs are preventable and treatable with early intervention and education on risk factors like excessive alcohol, inactivity, poor nutrition and tobacco use. Left undetected and untreated, NCDs can rapidly become life-threatening. Village Health Workers educate families on these risky behaviors and are trained to detect and test for NCDs on their rounds. The prompt reporting of a patient's symptoms to the nearest health facility can save a child's life. 'Village health workers are our foot soldiers,' says Yemurai Chamburuka, a primary care nurse at Patchway Clinic. 'When they see patients with abnormalities, they can easily call us or send the data by phone. It is to our advantage because we have the information as early as possible rather than waiting until the end of the month,' she says. 'If, during my checkup rounds, I test someone and observe, say, abnormal blood glucose levels, which is a sign of some non-communicable diseases, I refer the person to the clinic and send their test results ahead,' Denhera explains. Clinic nurses can review the real-time data and develop an action plan before the patient even reaches the facility. Because they come to know their clients and their environment so well, Village Health Workers often identify trends or potential disease outbreaks in their recordkeeping. The data they capture in real time is analyzed so that public health officials and policymakers can respond swiftly and efficiently. Dr. Robert Gongora, a digital health specialist who has led implementation of the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care (MoHCC) Electronic Health Records (EHR) system since 2017, commends the seamless flow of patient information. 'With more and more connectivity, we begin to learn immediately what's happening in that area because the moment we receive the information, we plan for that client ahead of arrival,' he says. Dr. Justice Mudavanhu, National Coordinator for Non-Communicable Diseases in the MoHCC, says the Ministry's head office uses VHW-submitted data to map the country's response to the growing incidence of childhood NCDs. 'In the program, we have technical experts who apply evidence-based interventions that help us to develop guidelines, standard operating procedures, algorithms and strategies for chronic diseases in children,' he said during a recent tour of rural Zimbabwe. 'There are systems at community level, at health facility level, and, as you go up, there are non-location-specific systems that enable data visualization. When we know what we are facing, we can target and measure our interventions better,' Dr. Mudavanhu adds. 'It's better not to shoot in the dark, especially where resource allocation is concerned.' 'We call them 'Digital Health Workers.' ' Equitable access to health care requires decision-making based on accurate and timely data. Authorities see vital interlinkages between the MoHCC digitization program and UNICEF's support for capacity building of the public health system. UNICEF, with the support of partners, is helping the MoHCC revolutionize community-based primary health care to strengthen NCD diagnosis, prevention and treatment within primary health care and referral facilities. Dr. Gongora suggests the title 'Village Health Worker' is outdated. Instead, he says, they should be called 'Digital Health Workers." his vital work is made possible by a donation from Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) to UNICEF USA. UNICEF is strengthening health systems and preventing, detecting and treating NCDs for children and adolescents in Bangladesh, Malawi, Nepal, India, the Philippines and Zimbabwe. UNICEF does not endorse any company, brand, product or service.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
US children struggle to catch up educationally while poverty further burdens Kentucky's kids
The Annie E. Casey Foundation's latest report on child wellbeing finds a decline in the share of Kentucky kids in preschool. (Photo by Getty Images) This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988. Kentucky's kids are struggling in school more than they did pre-pandemic, according to a new report on child wellbeing from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. While Kentucky children improved in the last few years on a few measures — more have health insurance, for example — every measure of education worsened, according to the KIDS COUNT County Data Book, released Monday. From 2019-2023, about 63% of Kentucky's children ages 3 and 4 were not in school, an increase from 58% from 2014-2018. In 2024, 67% of Kentucky's fourth graders were less than proficient in reading. That's up from 65% in 2019. That same year, most — 76% — of eighth graders in the state weren't proficient in math, up from 71% in 2019. From 2021-2022, 10% of high school students did not graduate on time, an increase from 9% in 2019, according to the report. Terry Brooks, the executive director of Kentucky Youth Advocates, told the Lantern that this new data is a 'very authentic litmus test for legislators and the governor to put up or shut up when it comes to a commitment to kids.' 'The child poverty level is really … the canary in the coal mine. It tells you not just where kids are today, but it tells you where kids are going,' Brooks said. Kentucky is the 44th worst in the nation for child poverty; one in five Kentucky children live in poverty. 'That flat out means that that is an unacceptable condition — if we care, at all, about kids,' Brooks said. Lisa M. Lawson, the president and CEO of The Annie E. Casey Foundation, wrote in the latest national report that 'while progress is uneven, the direction is clear.' 'We know what kids need to grow up healthy and connected: stable homes, strong schools, nutritious food, meaningful relationships and opportunities to learn, play and grow,' Lawson wrote. 'These are shared needs across communities — and meeting them is a shared responsibility.' In several ways, Kentucky's data is similar to the national trends. In both, the education category fared the worst — 'consistent with the pandemic's well-documented toll on student learning and school experiences' — while family and community improved. Democrat Beshear renews push for universal preschool in Kentucky Trends for Kentucky, revealed in the report, include: One in five children live in poverty, ranking them 44th on this measure. From 2019-2023, 63% of young children were not in school. That number was 58% in 2014-2018. Kentucky Youth Advocates says this shows 'a continued need for a robust early childhood education infrastructure that prioritizes early learning and care for our youngest learners.' Last week, Gov. Andy Beshear signed an executive order to establish an advisory committee that will explore support for universal pre-kindergarten programs in Kentucky. There is an 'unprecedented learning loss following the pandemic and the toll of chronic absenteeism on academic performance' resulting in 67% of fourth graders scoring below proficient in reading and 76% of eighth graders not proficient in math. Kentucky has the third highest rate among the states of children who are covered by health insurance; in 2023, 3% of Kentucky children were without coverage. The death rate for children and teenagers ages 1-19 increased by 28% in 2023 from 2019. There are fewer kids living in homes with a household head who doesn't have a high school diploma — the number dropped from 11% in 2019 to 9% in 2023. There were fewer teen births in 2023, with a rate of 21 per 1,000 ages 15-19. Despite the drop, Kentucky Youth Advocates says, 'this remains the Commonwealth's worst-ranked measure relative to other states at 46th in the nation.' In 2023, there were more Kentucky babies born below optimal weight, which can lead to health problems, than in 2019 — an increase from 8.7% to 8.8%. 'This moment calls for focus, creativity and commitment,' Lawson wrote in the national report. 'It calls on leaders at every level to act boldly where improvement is needed and rely on what we know works.' The COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered school buildings and sent kids home to learn remotely, certainly played a role in delaying youth, Brooks said. But, he added, 'to blame it on COVID is a cop-out.' 'I don't think we can continue to blame a virus for low academic achievement,' he said. 'It may have (been) exacerbated under COVID, but it wasn't created by COVID.' In the 2017-18 and 2018-19 school years, about 17% of Kentucky children were chronically absent, the Lantern previously reported, meaning they missed more than 10% of their enrolled time at school. During the 2022-23 school year, nearly 30% of Kentucky's students were chronically absent. During the 2023-4 year, it was down to 28%. Meanwhile, the Kentucky General Assembly is too focused on 'every hot button social issue there is,' Brooks said. They need to spend more time thinking about deep policy work that can improve education marks, he said. 'It's easy to criticize schools, but it takes some imagination to improve schools,' Brooks said. A retired educator and longtime advocate for children, Brooks said the poor education outcomes Kentucky is seeing now come from multiple factors, including children's poor mental health and an inadequate teaching workforce. Other items could use lawmaker attention, Brooks said, such as the SEEK formula for funding public schools, 'both in terms of adequacy and equity,' and assessment protocols. These aren't trendy policies to work on, Brooks acknowledged: 'The assessment system is deep policy work. It's not a way to grab attention.' 'In a lot of ways, forces around education are playing chicken with one another and seeing who blinks first,' Brooks said. 'And that's not the landscape for positive change.' There are some immediate policies Brooks would like to see Kentucky lawmakers consider in 2026, which is a budget year. Those include a state earned income tax credit and also a dependent child care tax credit to address childhood poverty. 'The '26 budget is probably being crafted in the General Assembly right now. I want to see if there's any dedicated effort to address childhood poverty in this budget, as well as what the governor presents,' Brooks said. 'If there is such an attempt, then kudos go to whoever is proposing that. If not, frankly, Frankfort leaders just need to be quiet about childhood poverty because they don't really care.' Not every issue facing Kentucky's kids can be fixed with a 'magic wand' from Frankfort, Brooks said, including the high mortality rate among children. The death rate for Kentucky youth 1-19 increased by 28% in 2023 from 2019. In 2023, there were 395 deaths per 100,000, the data shows, which includes suicides, accidents and homicides. There were 22,841 deaths nationally per 100,000. The pandemic hit kids hard, leading to high rates of depression and anxiety in those separated from peers and support networks. In addition, as the Lantern has reported, access to guns and medications kill kids. 'What we see is an alarming rise in children dying either because of access to medication — and I'm not talking illicit drugs, I'm talking (about) what they get out of the medicine cabinet in their parents' bathroom — and also unsafe storage of guns,' Brooks said. A variety of medications — including over the counter pain relievers like Tylenol — can hurt kids if not taken according to directions. Experts recommend securing all medications where children cannot access them, keeping bullets separate from guns and using gun locks. 'While there's certainly an abundance of responsibility that (goes) to lawmakers and the governor, there's also an abundance of responsibility to go to moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas,' Brooks said. 'Be diligent. Use common sense when it comes to making sure that little boy or little girl can't get to your gun and shoot themselves, and they can't get to your medication and overdose.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
