Latest news with #Rosella
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Corcept Therapeutics Inc (CORT) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Highlights: Revenue Growth Amid ...
Release Date: May 05, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Corcept Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CORT) reported a revenue increase to $157.2 million in Q1 2025, up from $146.8 million in the same quarter last year. The company is confident in its future growth prospects, with a significant increase in the prescriber base and patient growth for hypercortisolism treatments. Corcept Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CORT) has expanded its sales force significantly, from 60 to 125 clinical specialists, with plans to reach 175 by year-end. The company's Catalyst study showed that 1 in 4 patients with difficult-to-control diabetes have hypercortisolism, highlighting a significant market opportunity. Corcept Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CORT) is advancing its oncology portfolio, with positive results from the Rosella trial in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer, showing a 30% reduction in disease progression risk. Net income decreased to $20.5 million in Q1 2025 from $27.8 million in the same quarter last year. The company faced operational challenges with its pharmacy vendor, affecting Q1 results due to insufficient capacity to handle increased prescription volumes. A transition to authorized generic tablets, which have a lower net price, led to a 13% decrease in average price per tablet. Corcept Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:CORT) is involved in ongoing patent litigation with TEA, which could impact future market dynamics. The company's ALS trial did not meet its primary endpoint, although there was an observed improvement in overall survival, indicating potential regulatory challenges. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 7 Warning Signs with CORT. Q: Can you explain where Relacorilant fits into the treatment paradigm for ovarian cancer, and how it compares to other treatments like Elaheir? A: Roberto Viera, President of the Oncology Division, explained that Relacorilant is poised to become a new standard of care in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The treatment landscape is fragmented, and Relacorilant offers a new option in multiple lines of therapy, including before or after biomarker-driven agents like Elaheir. Q: With the improvements in March and April, how will this affect revenue projections for the upcoming quarters? A: Sean Maduk, President of the Endocrinology Division, stated that the fundamentals of the business are strong, and growth is expected to continue and accelerate throughout the year. The company is confident in achieving its revenue guidance of $900 to $950 million. Q: What is the mix between branded and authorized generic business for Korlym, and how does it affect revenue projections? A: Sean Maduk noted that over half of the product is currently on the authorized generic, and this percentage is expected to increase. Future volume growth is expected to outweigh any price changes due to the mix of products. Q: Are you expecting an advisory committee meeting for Relacorilant's NDA? A: Charlie Robb, Chief Business Officer, stated that they do not expect an advisory committee meeting, as it was not required for Korlym or other recently approved drugs in hypercortisolism. Q: What corrective measures did the pharmacy vendor take to improve operations, and can they meet future demand? A: Sean Maduk explained that the pharmacy vendor addressed staffing issues that led to prescription delays. The vendor has since improved operations, and the company is exploring broader distribution networks for future products like Relacorilant. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Saudi Gazette
12-02-2025
- Health
- Saudi Gazette
Trump's foreign aid freeze: Patients lifted from hospital beds risk death in Thailand
MAE SOT, Thailand — Plastic tubes meander from Rosella's nose to a nearby oxygen tank that's bigger than she is, as she flicks through a book of her drawings: a flower, a house, a 9-year-old needs non-stop medical attention for the bone condition she was born with that has left her ribs pushing dangerously on her lungs, one of which is not working as it should.'She cannot breathe properly,' her mother, Rebecca, 27, tells CNN via video call. 'She needs a constant supply of oxygen.' But she doesn't know how long it will and her mother are refugees living in one of nine remote camps dotted along Thailand's mountainous border with 100,000 people live in the camps, having fled decades of fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority rebel groups. The situation at the border has worsened in recent years by the junta's coup and ensuing civil La is the biggest camp and its US-funded hospital is the only source of health care for more than 37,000 people living there – mostly from the ethnic Karen the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all international aid, halting the US' entire global development network overnight, the camp hospital was forced to shut its doors, sending shock waves through the refugee posted by refugees on social media showed patients at the center being lifted from their hospital beds and carried out in hammocks covered in was moved to a nearby improvised health center, along with other patients with chronic conditions. But there are no longer any doctors to treat aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world's most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the told CNN they only had a month and a half of funding left to feed tens of thousands of people.'We have never faced a problem like this before,' said Saw Bweh Say, secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents refugees in the Thai in the Thai border camps live a fragile and isolated cannot legally work and need a permit to even leave the camp. The Thai government considers the camps temporary settlements, but some communities have been there for services such as health care, education, sanitation, water and food are provided by international aid donors. In Mae La, and six other camps, those funds come almost entirely from the US – the world's largest aid donor – through the International Rescue the camp hospitals are more akin to field clinics, with tin roofs and intermittent power, they are the only source of health care for tens of thousands of people.'If it's an emergency, how can we face the situation? That burdens a lot of people here,' said Ni Ni, 62, who has heart failure and kidney medical oxygen, 'I will die,' she told CNN via video call from Mae some, it's already too late. In nearby Umpiem camp, an elderly lady with breathing problems died after she could not access supplemental oxygen due to the hospital closure, an IRC spokesperson refugees told CNN they now face the cost of treatments such as dialysis – a huge expense when most struggle to feed their IRC spokesperson said they had to start shutting outpatient departments and other facilities in the camps following the stop-work order. Management of the medical facilities, equipment and water system has been transferred to Thai authorities and camp commanders, though the IRC continues to source medicine and fuel using non-US of refugee medics, midwives and nurses are working round-the-clock helping to plug the gaps, while families scramble for alternative treatment for their loved ones.'Karen families donated medicine and oxygen tanks, but that's not enough,' said Pim Kerdsawang, an independent NGO worker in the border city of Mae their concerns is the cost of food. Feeding more than 100,000 refugees across all nine camps for one month costs $1.3 million dollars, and the organization that provides the food and cooking fuel says it has only enough money to last for a month and a half.'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel.'Refugees use a food card system to buy items in the camp shops, which is paid for by The Border Consortium. The food and cooking fuel are funded by the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the group said.'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel. So far, there is no alternative to the US grant,' said Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border organization has started prioritizing the most vulnerable refugees who have no income of their own, Riedmatten said, as the aid freeze and continuous arrival of new refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar drain the Tawatchai Yingtaweesak heard the camp hospitals had shut, his team raced to see how they could is the director of the Tha Song Yang hospital, about a 30-minute drive from sprawling Mae no doctors on duty in the camps, his hospital and several others have stepped in to treat refugees with serious and emergency said suddenly closing the US-funded hospital was 'dangerous' and, since the aid freeze, his facility has taken in between 20 and 30 refugee is working with camp medics and helping to deliver oxygen, among other supplies, but says this can only be a temporary fix. His hospital serves about 100,000 people and while they can cope, he worries that this year's rainy season will overwhelm starting around June, the monsoon is 'high season for disease,' Tawatchai said, with a surge in mosquito-borne diseases and children with pneumonia.'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?'Naw Mary, 32, was rushed to the maternity ward at Tha Song Yang on Sunday, suffering from high blood pressure. Far from her family and home at the camp, she was about to give birth to her first child.'They said it was risky to deliver a child in the camp without a doctor and facilities so they referred me to this hospital,' Naw Mary and excited to bring her baby into the world, Naw Mary also said she's concerned about follow-up care for her newborn and herself.'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' she pain created by the US aid freeze goes beyond the refugee spoke to about a dozen NGO and aid workers in the impoverished border region, some of whom requested anonymity as they feared reprisals from the US government, who said basic services were disrupted and staff laid off due to the Trump administration's include cuts to vaccines, education and resettlement programs, domestic violence shelters, anti-human-trafficking initiatives, safe houses for dissidents, and help for displaced people.'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need.'For more than 30 years, the Mae Tao clinic near Mae Sot has been a lifeline for vulnerable and impoverished migrants from Myanmar. The clinic handles almost 500 patients a day, and 20% of its funding comes from the that funding has been put on hold, the clinic has to reallocate part of its budget so their healthcare services are not impacted.'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need,' said Saw Than Lwin, deputy director of organization and development at Mae the clinic, aid workers with the Burma Children Medical Fund load boxes of supplies containing food, infant formula baby milk powder, medicine, and eye screening kits, into a headed across the Moei River, a border between Thailand and Myanmar, to help thousands of people just kilometers away displaced by Myanmar military airstrikes and ground needs in Myanmar are huge, aid workers say, where millions of people struggle with hunger, trauma and the constant threat of attacks.'The places that we're working in are the remotest areas in all of Burma, very hard to reach communities without other alternatives to medical assistance,' said Salai Za Uk Ling, founder of the Chin Human Rights Organization.'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?'About 30% of CHRO's funding comes from the USAID and the group, which provides medical and mental health care to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar's northwest, has had to cut vital services and lay off staff in the past three weeks.'Rural communities, people who are living in displaced situation, don't know a whole lot about international politics, all they care about is their daily survival,' Za Uk said.'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?'In Myanmar's Kayah state, also known as Karenni, the aid suspension has meant teachers' salaries cannot be paid, leaving kids without education, said Banya Khung Aung, founder and director of the Karenni Human Rights they had more notice, groups like his could have sourced alternative funding, he Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed the US is continuing to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid. Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, reiterated last week that he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs.'If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that,' Rubio said, questioning the competency of organizations that haven't applied for a least six organizations that CNN spoke to in northern Thailand said they had not received waivers, or even been reviewed. And USAID employees told CNN almost all humanitarian assistance programs remain stopped.'A week or two ago people thought the waiver process would be legitimate, and programs would be reviewed,' one USAID employee based in Washington, DC, told CNN. 'When it became clear that was not happening, there was a complete sense of shock.'Another USAID employee told CNN 'work is grounded to a halt because there's no staff to manage it, and there's no staff in DC to answer questions from partners.'Even if funds are made available after the 90-day freeze, 'who would then communicate to us or be knowledgeable enough to process what is left of the system?' asked Za Uk from his January 20 executive order, President Donald Trump said the 'US foreign aid industry' serves to 'destabilize world peace' and is 'in many cases antithetical to American values.'But those affected in northern Thailand are some of the world's most vulnerable people who rely on US aid to Mae La camp, Rosella can't stray far from her oxygen tank. She needs one tank every two days, her mother their family's situation is that Rebecca is five months pregnant. She used to get her ultrasounds and prenatal care at the hospital, but that has all stopped as well.'I don't know what to do. There are no doctors to go and see right now for this pregnancy,' she said. 'I'm worried for my daughter and this pregnancy, worried for everyone.' — CNN
CNN
11-02-2025
- Health
- CNN
No doctors for sick children. This is the reality of Trump's aid freeze in remote northern Thailand
Plastic tubes meander from Rosella's nose to a nearby oxygen tank that's bigger than she is, as she flicks through a book of her drawings: a flower, a house, a chicken. The 9-year-old needs non-stop medical attention for the bone condition she was born with that has left her ribs pushing dangerously on her lungs, one of which is not working as it should. 'She cannot breathe properly,' her mother, Rebecca, 27, tells CNN via video call. 'She needs a constant supply of oxygen.' But she doesn't know how long it will last. Rosella and her mother are refugees living in one of nine remote camps dotted along Thailand's mountainous border with Myanmar. About 100,000 people live in the camps, having fled decades of fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority rebel groups. The situation at the border has worsened in recent years by the junta's coup and ensuing civil war. Mae La is the biggest camp and its US-funded hospital is the only source of health care for more than 37,000 people living there – mostly from the ethnic Karen minority. When the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all international aid, halting the US' entire global development network overnight, the camp hospital was forced to shut its doors, sending shock waves through the refugee community. Video posted by refugees on social media showed patients at the center being lifted from their hospital beds and carried out in hammocks covered in blankets. Rosella was moved to a nearby improvised health center, along with other patients with chronic conditions. But there are no longer any doctors to treat her. Numerous aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world's most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the border. Some told CNN they only had a month and a half of funding left to feed tens of thousands of people. 'We have never faced a problem like this before,' said Saw Bweh Say, secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents refugees in the Thai camps. Refugees in the Thai border camps live a fragile and isolated existence. They cannot legally work and need a permit to even leave the camp. The Thai government considers the camps temporary settlements, but some communities have been there for generations. Basic services such as health care, education, sanitation, water and food are provided by international aid donors. In Mae La, and six other camps, those funds come almost entirely from the US – the world's largest aid donor – through the International Rescue Committee. Though the camp hospitals are more akin to field clinics, with tin roofs and intermittent power, they are the only source of health care for tens of thousands of people. 'If it's an emergency, how can we face the situation? That burdens a lot of people here,' said Ni Ni, 62, who has heart failure and kidney disease. Without medical oxygen, 'I will die,' she told CNN via video call from Mae La. For some, it's already too late. In nearby Umpiem camp, an elderly lady with breathing problems died after she could not access supplemental oxygen due to the hospital closure, an IRC spokesperson said. Other refugees told CNN they now face the cost for treatments such as dialysis – a huge expense when most struggle to feed their families. An IRC spokesperson said they had to start shutting outpatient departments and other facilities in the camps following the stop-work order. Management of the medical facilities, equipment and water system has been transferred to Thai authorities and camp commanders, though the IRC continues to source medicine and fuel using non-US funds. Teams of refugee medics, midwives and nurses are working round-the-clock helping to plug the gaps, while families scramble for alternative treatment for their loved ones. 'Karen families donated medicine and oxygen tanks, but that's not enough,' said Pim Kerdsawang, an independent NGO worker in the border city of Mae Sot. Compounding their concerns is the cost of food. Feeding more than 100,000 refugees across all nine camps for one month costs $1.3 million dollars, and the organization that provides the food and cooking fuel says it has only enough money to last for a month and a half. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel.' Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium Refugees use a food card system to buy items in the camp shops, which is paid for by The Border Consortium. The food and cooking fuel are funded by State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the group said. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel. So far, there is no alternative to the US grant,' said Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium. The organization has started prioritizing the most vulnerable refugees who have no income of their own, Riedmatten said, as the aid freeze and continuous arrival of new refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar drains the funds. When Tawatchai Yingtaweesak heard the camp hospitals had shut, his team raced to see how they could help. Tawatchai is director of the Tha Song Yang hospital, about a 30-minute drive from sprawling Mae La. With no doctors on duty in the camps, his hospital and several others have stepped in to treat refugees with serious and emergency conditions. Tawatchai said suddenly closing the US-funded hospital was 'dangerous' and, since the aid freeze, his facility has taken in between 20 and 30 refugee patients. He is working with camp medics and helping to deliver oxygen, among other supplies, but says this can only be a temporary fix. His hospital serves about 100,000 people and while they can cope, he worries that this year's rainy season will overwhelm them. Typically starting around June, the monsoon is 'high season for disease,' Tawatchai said, with a surge in mosquito-borne diseases and children with pneumonia. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' Naw Mary, refugee from Mae La camp Naw Mary, 32, was rushed to the maternity ward at Tha Song Yang on Sunday, suffering from high blood pressure. Far from her family and home at the camp, she was about to give birth to her first child. 'They said it was risky to deliver a child in the camp without a doctor and facilities so they referred me to this hospital,' Naw Mary said. Nervous and excited to bring her baby into the world, Naw Mary also said she's concerned about follow-up care for her newborn and herself. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' she asked. The pain created by the US aid freeze goes beyond the refugee camps. CNN spoke to about a dozen NGO and aid workers in the impoverished border region, some of whom requested anonymity as they feared reprisals from the US government, who said basic services were disrupted and staff laid off due to the Trump administration's policy. They include cuts to vaccine, education and resettlement programs, domestic violence shelters, anti-human-trafficking initiatives, safe houses for dissidents, and help for displaced people. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need.' Saw Than Lwin, Mae Tao clinic Now that funding has been put on hold, the clinic has to reallocate part of its budget so their health care services are not impacted. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need,' said Saw Than Lwin, deputy director of organization and development at Mae Tao. Nearby the clinic, aid workers with the Burma Children Medical Fund load boxes of supplies containing food, infant formula baby milk powder, medicine, and eye screening kits, into a van. It's headed across the Moei River, a border between Thailand and Myanmar, to help thousands of people just kilometers away displaced by Myanmar military airstrikes and ground attacks. The needs in Myanmar are huge, aid workers say, where millions of people struggle with hunger, trauma and the constant threat of attacks. 'The places that we're working in are the remotest areas in all of Burma, very hard to reach communities without other alternatives to medical assistance,' said Salai Za Uk Ling, founder of the Chin Human Rights Organization. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO About 30% of CHRO's funding comes from the USAID and the group, which provides medical and mental health care to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar's northwest, has had to cut vital services and lay off staff in the past three weeks. 'Rural communities, people who are living in displaced situation, don't know a whole lot about international politics, all they care about is their daily survival,' Za Uk said. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' In Myanmar's Kayah state, also known as Karenni, the aid suspension has meant teachers' salaries cannot be paid, leaving kids without education, said Banya Khung Aung, founder and director of the Karenni Human Rights Group. If they had more notice, groups like his could have sourced alternative funding, he said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed the US is continuing to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid. Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, reiterated last week that he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs. 'If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that,' Rubio said, questioning the competency of organizations that haven't applied for a waiver. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO At least six organizations that CNN spoke to in northern Thailand said they had not received waivers, or even been reviewed. And USAID employees told CNN almost all humanitarian assistance programs remain stopped. 'A week or two ago people thought the waiver process would be legitimate, and programs would be reviewed,' one USAID employee based in Washington, DC, told CNN. 'When it became clear that was not happening, there was a complete sense of shock.' Another USAID employee told CNN 'work is grounded to a halt because there's no staff to manage it, and there's no staff in DC to answer questions from partners.' Even if funds are made available after the 90-day freeze, 'who would then communicate to us or be knowledgeable enough to process what is left of the system?' asked Za Uk from CHRO. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' In his January 20 executive order, President Donald Trump said the 'US foreign aid industry' serves to 'destabilize world peace' and is 'in many cases antithetical to American values.' But those affected in northern Thailand are some of the world's most vulnerable people who rely on US aid to survive. In Mae La camp, Rosella can't stray far from her oxygen tank. She needs one tank every two days, her mother said. Complicating their family's situation is that Rebecca is five months pregnant. She used to get her ultrasounds and prenatal care at the hospital, but that has all stopped as well. 'I don't know what to do. There are no doctors to go and see right now for this pregnancy,' she said. 'I'm worried for my daughter and this pregnancy, worried for everyone.'
CNN
11-02-2025
- Health
- CNN
No doctors for sick children. This is the reality of Trump's aid freeze in remote northern Thailand
Plastic tubes meander from Rosella's nose to a nearby oxygen tank that's bigger than she is, as she flicks through a book of her drawings: a flower, a house, a chicken. The 9-year-old needs non-stop medical attention for the bone condition she was born with that has left her ribs pushing dangerously on her lungs, one of which is not working as it should. 'She cannot breathe properly,' her mother, Rebecca, 27, tells CNN via video call. 'She needs a constant supply of oxygen.' But she doesn't know how long it will last. Rosella and her mother are refugees living in one of nine remote camps dotted along Thailand's mountainous border with Myanmar. About 100,000 people live in the camps, having fled decades of fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority rebel groups. The situation at the border has worsened in recent years by the junta's coup and ensuing civil war. Mae La is the biggest camp and its US-funded hospital is the only source of health care for more than 37,000 people living there – mostly from the ethnic Karen minority. When the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all international aid, halting the US' entire global development network overnight, the camp hospital was forced to shut its doors, sending shock waves through the refugee community. Video posted by refugees on social media showed patients at the center being lifted from their hospital beds and carried out in hammocks covered in blankets. Rosella was moved to a nearby improvised health center, along with other patients with chronic conditions. But there are no longer any doctors to treat her. Numerous aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world's most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the border. Some told CNN they only had a month and a half of funding left to feed tens of thousands of people. 'We have never faced a problem like this before,' said Saw Bweh Say, secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents refugees in the Thai camps. Refugees in the Thai border camps live a fragile and isolated existence. They cannot legally work and need a permit to even leave the camp. The Thai government considers the camps temporary settlements, but some communities have been there for generations. Basic services such as health care, education, sanitation, water and food are provided by international aid donors. In Mae La, and six other camps, those funds come almost entirely from the US – the world's largest aid donor – through the International Rescue Committee. Though the camp hospitals are more akin to field clinics, with tin roofs and intermittent power, they are the only source of health care for tens of thousands of people. 'If it's an emergency, how can we face the situation? That burdens a lot of people here,' said Ni Ni, 62, who has heart failure and kidney disease. Without medical oxygen, 'I will die,' she told CNN via video call from Mae La. For some, it's already too late. In nearby Umpiem camp, an elderly lady with breathing problems died after she could not access supplemental oxygen due to the hospital closure, an IRC spokesperson said. Other refugees told CNN they now face the cost for treatments such as dialysis – a huge expense when most struggle to feed their families. An IRC spokesperson said they had to start shutting outpatient departments and other facilities in the camps following the stop-work order. Management of the medical facilities, equipment and water system has been transferred to Thai authorities and camp commanders, though the IRC continues to source medicine and fuel using non-US funds. Teams of refugee medics, midwives and nurses are working round-the-clock helping to plug the gaps, while families scramble for alternative treatment for their loved ones. 'Karen families donated medicine and oxygen tanks, but that's not enough,' said Pim Kerdsawang, an independent NGO worker in the border city of Mae Sot. Compounding their concerns is the cost of food. Feeding more than 100,000 refugees across all nine camps for one month costs $1.3 million dollars, and the organization that provides the food and cooking fuel says it has only enough money to last for a month and a half. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel.' Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium Refugees use a food card system to buy items in the camp shops, which is paid for by The Border Consortium. The food and cooking fuel are funded by State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the group said. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel. So far, there is no alternative to the US grant,' said Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium. The organization has started prioritizing the most vulnerable refugees who have no income of their own, Riedmatten said, as the aid freeze and continuous arrival of new refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar drains the funds. When Tawatchai Yingtaweesak heard the camp hospitals had shut, his team raced to see how they could help. Tawatchai is director of the Tha Song Yang hospital, about a 30-minute drive from sprawling Mae La. With no doctors on duty in the camps, his hospital and several others have stepped in to treat refugees with serious and emergency conditions. Tawatchai said suddenly closing the US-funded hospital was 'dangerous' and, since the aid freeze, his facility has taken in between 20 and 30 refugee patients. He is working with camp medics and helping to deliver oxygen, among other supplies, but says this can only be a temporary fix. His hospital serves about 100,000 people and while they can cope, he worries that this year's rainy season will overwhelm them. Typically starting around June, the monsoon is 'high season for disease,' Tawatchai said, with a surge in mosquito-borne diseases and children with pneumonia. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' Naw Mary, refugee from Mae La camp Naw Mary, 32, was rushed to the maternity ward at Tha Song Yang on Sunday, suffering from high blood pressure. Far from her family and home at the camp, she was about to give birth to her first child. 'They said it was risky to deliver a child in the camp without a doctor and facilities so they referred me to this hospital,' Naw Mary said. Nervous and excited to bring her baby into the world, Naw Mary also said she's concerned about follow-up care for her newborn and herself. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' she asked. The pain created by the US aid freeze goes beyond the refugee camps. CNN spoke to about a dozen NGO and aid workers in the impoverished border region, some of whom requested anonymity as they feared reprisals from the US government, who said basic services were disrupted and staff laid off due to the Trump administration's policy. They include cuts to vaccine, education and resettlement programs, domestic violence shelters, anti-human-trafficking initiatives, safe houses for dissidents, and help for displaced people. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need.' Saw Than Lwin, Mae Tao clinic Now that funding has been put on hold, the clinic has to reallocate part of its budget so their health care services are not impacted. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need,' said Saw Than Lwin, deputy director of organization and development at Mae Tao. Nearby the clinic, aid workers with the Burma Children Medical Fund load boxes of supplies containing food, infant formula baby milk powder, medicine, and eye screening kits, into a van. It's headed across the Moei River, a border between Thailand and Myanmar, to help thousands of people just kilometers away displaced by Myanmar military airstrikes and ground attacks. The needs in Myanmar are huge, aid workers say, where millions of people struggle with hunger, trauma and the constant threat of attacks. 'The places that we're working in are the remotest areas in all of Burma, very hard to reach communities without other alternatives to medical assistance,' said Salai Za Uk Ling, founder of the Chin Human Rights Organization. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO About 30% of CHRO's funding comes from the USAID and the group, which provides medical and mental health care to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar's northwest, has had to cut vital services and lay off staff in the past three weeks. 'Rural communities, people who are living in displaced situation, don't know a whole lot about international politics, all they care about is their daily survival,' Za Uk said. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' In Myanmar's Kayah state, also known as Karenni, the aid suspension has meant teachers' salaries cannot be paid, leaving kids without education, said Banya Khung Aung, founder and director of the Karenni Human Rights Group. If they had more notice, groups like his could have sourced alternative funding, he said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed the US is continuing to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid. Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, reiterated last week that he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs. 'If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that,' Rubio said, questioning the competency of organizations that haven't applied for a waiver. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO At least six organizations that CNN spoke to in northern Thailand said they had not received waivers, or even been reviewed. And USAID employees told CNN almost all humanitarian assistance programs remain stopped. 'A week or two ago people thought the waiver process would be legitimate, and programs would be reviewed,' one USAID employee based in Washington, DC, told CNN. 'When it became clear that was not happening, there was a complete sense of shock.' Another USAID employee told CNN 'work is grounded to a halt because there's no staff to manage it, and there's no staff in DC to answer questions from partners.' Even if funds are made available after the 90-day freeze, 'who would then communicate to us or be knowledgeable enough to process what is left of the system?' asked Za Uk from CHRO. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' In his January 20 executive order, President Donald Trump said the 'US foreign aid industry' serves to 'destabilize world peace' and is 'in many cases antithetical to American values.' But those affected in northern Thailand are some of the world's most vulnerable people who rely on US aid to survive. In Mae La camp, Rosella can't stray far from her oxygen tank. She needs one tank every two days, her mother said. Complicating their family's situation is that Rebecca is five months pregnant. She used to get her ultrasounds and prenatal care at the hospital, but that has all stopped as well. 'I don't know what to do. There are no doctors to go and see right now for this pregnancy,' she said. 'I'm worried for my daughter and this pregnancy, worried for everyone.'
CNN
11-02-2025
- Health
- CNN
No doctors for sick children. This is the reality of Trump's aid freeze in remote northern Thailand
Plastic tubes meander from Rosella's nose to a nearby oxygen tank that's bigger than she is, as she flicks through a book of her drawings: a flower, a house, a chicken. The 9-year-old needs non-stop medical attention for the bone condition she was born with that has left her ribs pushing dangerously on her lungs, one of which is not working as it should. 'She cannot breathe properly,' her mother, Rebecca, 27, tells CNN via video call. 'She needs a constant supply of oxygen.' But she doesn't know how long it will last. Rosella and her mother are refugees living in one of nine remote camps dotted along Thailand's mountainous border with Myanmar. About 100,000 people live in the camps, having fled decades of fighting between the Myanmar military and ethnic minority rebel groups. The situation at the border has worsened in recent years by the junta's coup and ensuing civil war. Mae La is the biggest camp and its US-funded hospital is the only source of health care for more than 37,000 people living there – mostly from the ethnic Karen minority. When the Trump administration ordered a 90-day freeze on almost all international aid, halting the US' entire global development network overnight, the camp hospital was forced to shut its doors, sending shock waves through the refugee community. Video posted by refugees on social media showed patients at the center being lifted from their hospital beds and carried out in hammocks covered in blankets. Rosella was moved to a nearby improvised health center, along with other patients with chronic conditions. But there are no longer any doctors to treat her. Numerous aid workers in northern Thailand described widespread panic and confusion following the sudden suspension of aid, especially among those whose work provides life-saving services to some of the world's most vulnerable and impoverished people on both sides of the border. Some told CNN they only had a month and a half of funding left to feed tens of thousands of people. 'We have never faced a problem like this before,' said Saw Bweh Say, secretary of the Karen Refugee Committee, which represents refugees in the Thai camps. Refugees in the Thai border camps live a fragile and isolated existence. They cannot legally work and need a permit to even leave the camp. The Thai government considers the camps temporary settlements, but some communities have been there for generations. Basic services such as health care, education, sanitation, water and food are provided by international aid donors. In Mae La, and six other camps, those funds come almost entirely from the US – the world's largest aid donor – through the International Rescue Committee. Though the camp hospitals are more akin to field clinics, with tin roofs and intermittent power, they are the only source of health care for tens of thousands of people. 'If it's an emergency, how can we face the situation? That burdens a lot of people here,' said Ni Ni, 62, who has heart failure and kidney disease. Without medical oxygen, 'I will die,' she told CNN via video call from Mae La. For some, it's already too late. In nearby Umpiem camp, an elderly lady with breathing problems died after she could not access supplemental oxygen due to the hospital closure, an IRC spokesperson said. Other refugees told CNN they now face the cost for treatments such as dialysis – a huge expense when most struggle to feed their families. An IRC spokesperson said they had to start shutting outpatient departments and other facilities in the camps following the stop-work order. Management of the medical facilities, equipment and water system has been transferred to Thai authorities and camp commanders, though the IRC continues to source medicine and fuel using non-US funds. Teams of refugee medics, midwives and nurses are working round-the-clock helping to plug the gaps, while families scramble for alternative treatment for their loved ones. 'Karen families donated medicine and oxygen tanks, but that's not enough,' said Pim Kerdsawang, an independent NGO worker in the border city of Mae Sot. Compounding their concerns is the cost of food. Feeding more than 100,000 refugees across all nine camps for one month costs $1.3 million dollars, and the organization that provides the food and cooking fuel says it has only enough money to last for a month and a half. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel.' Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium Refugees use a food card system to buy items in the camp shops, which is paid for by The Border Consortium. The food and cooking fuel are funded by State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), the group said. 'The main concern is not having the means to provide the refugees with food and cooking fuel. So far, there is no alternative to the US grant,' said Leon de Riedmatten, executive director of The Border Consortium. The organization has started prioritizing the most vulnerable refugees who have no income of their own, Riedmatten said, as the aid freeze and continuous arrival of new refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar drains the funds. When Tawatchai Yingtaweesak heard the camp hospitals had shut, his team raced to see how they could help. Tawatchai is director of the Tha Song Yang hospital, about a 30-minute drive from sprawling Mae La. With no doctors on duty in the camps, his hospital and several others have stepped in to treat refugees with serious and emergency conditions. Tawatchai said suddenly closing the US-funded hospital was 'dangerous' and, since the aid freeze, his facility has taken in between 20 and 30 refugee patients. He is working with camp medics and helping to deliver oxygen, among other supplies, but says this can only be a temporary fix. His hospital serves about 100,000 people and while they can cope, he worries that this year's rainy season will overwhelm them. Typically starting around June, the monsoon is 'high season for disease,' Tawatchai said, with a surge in mosquito-borne diseases and children with pneumonia. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' Naw Mary, refugee from Mae La camp Naw Mary, 32, was rushed to the maternity ward at Tha Song Yang on Sunday, suffering from high blood pressure. Far from her family and home at the camp, she was about to give birth to her first child. 'They said it was risky to deliver a child in the camp without a doctor and facilities so they referred me to this hospital,' Naw Mary said. Nervous and excited to bring her baby into the world, Naw Mary also said she's concerned about follow-up care for her newborn and herself. 'Why did they have to stop helping the refugees?' she asked. The pain created by the US aid freeze goes beyond the refugee camps. CNN spoke to about a dozen NGO and aid workers in the impoverished border region, some of whom requested anonymity as they feared reprisals from the US government, who said basic services were disrupted and staff laid off due to the Trump administration's policy. They include cuts to vaccine, education and resettlement programs, domestic violence shelters, anti-human-trafficking initiatives, safe houses for dissidents, and help for displaced people. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need.' Saw Than Lwin, Mae Tao clinic Now that funding has been put on hold, the clinic has to reallocate part of its budget so their health care services are not impacted. 'This fund we only use for vulnerable people and those who are really in need,' said Saw Than Lwin, deputy director of organization and development at Mae Tao. Nearby the clinic, aid workers with the Burma Children Medical Fund load boxes of supplies containing food, infant formula baby milk powder, medicine, and eye screening kits, into a van. It's headed across the Moei River, a border between Thailand and Myanmar, to help thousands of people just kilometers away displaced by Myanmar military airstrikes and ground attacks. The needs in Myanmar are huge, aid workers say, where millions of people struggle with hunger, trauma and the constant threat of attacks. 'The places that we're working in are the remotest areas in all of Burma, very hard to reach communities without other alternatives to medical assistance,' said Salai Za Uk Ling, founder of the Chin Human Rights Organization. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO About 30% of CHRO's funding comes from the USAID and the group, which provides medical and mental health care to tens of thousands of people in Myanmar's northwest, has had to cut vital services and lay off staff in the past three weeks. 'Rural communities, people who are living in displaced situation, don't know a whole lot about international politics, all they care about is their daily survival,' Za Uk said. 'How do we even begin to explain to them why this is happening?' In Myanmar's Kayah state, also known as Karenni, the aid suspension has meant teachers' salaries cannot be paid, leaving kids without education, said Banya Khung Aung, founder and director of the Karenni Human Rights Group. If they had more notice, groups like his could have sourced alternative funding, he said. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed the US is continuing to provide lifesaving humanitarian aid. Rubio, now the acting administrator of USAID, reiterated last week that he had issued a blanket waiver for lifesaving programs. 'If it's providing food or medicine or anything that is saving lives and is immediate and urgent, you're not included in the freeze. I don't know how much more clear we can be than that,' Rubio said, questioning the competency of organizations that haven't applied for a waiver. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' Salai Za Uk Ling, CHRO At least six organizations that CNN spoke to in northern Thailand said they had not received waivers, or even been reviewed. And USAID employees told CNN almost all humanitarian assistance programs remain stopped. 'A week or two ago people thought the waiver process would be legitimate, and programs would be reviewed,' one USAID employee based in Washington, DC, told CNN. 'When it became clear that was not happening, there was a complete sense of shock.' Another USAID employee told CNN 'work is grounded to a halt because there's no staff to manage it, and there's no staff in DC to answer questions from partners.' Even if funds are made available after the 90-day freeze, 'who would then communicate to us or be knowledgeable enough to process what is left of the system?' asked Za Uk from CHRO. 'By time that any funding reaches us, unfortunately for those suffering from serious medical condition might be lost.' In his January 20 executive order, President Donald Trump said the 'US foreign aid industry' serves to 'destabilize world peace' and is 'in many cases antithetical to American values.' But those affected in northern Thailand are some of the world's most vulnerable people who rely on US aid to survive. In Mae La camp, Rosella can't stray far from her oxygen tank. She needs one tank every two days, her mother said. Complicating their family's situation is that Rebecca is five months pregnant. She used to get her ultrasounds and prenatal care at the hospital, but that has all stopped as well. 'I don't know what to do. There are no doctors to go and see right now for this pregnancy,' she said. 'I'm worried for my daughter and this pregnancy, worried for everyone.'
