Mergui-Tavoy Situation Update: K’Ser Doh Township, June to September 2017

This Situation Update describes events occurring in K’Ser Doh Township, Mergui-Tavoy District during the period between June and September 2017, including healthcare, education, livelihoods, transportation and development.

• Many villages, especially Karen villages in K’Ser Doh Township, Mergui-Tavoy District face a shortage of teachers so students’ education has been interrupted. Some villages have resolved this problem by internally recruiting new teachers; however, it is a challenge for villagers to pay the new teachers’ salaries.

• Some villagers from K’Ser Doh Township, Mergui-Tavoy District, especially children and the elderly, face several barriers in accessing healthcare services such as a shortage of health workers, high medical fees and the absence of clinics. Villagers from La Baw and Eh Eh areas, K’Ser Doh Township, Mergui-Tavoy also face livelihood challenges because of transportation difficulties. Some roads are unpaved and the quality of the highway in K’Ser Doh Township that was completed by the Burma/Myanmar government in early 2017 is poor.

• Civilians from K’Ser Doh Township, Mergui-Tavoy District request the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) to consider and address education, health and transportation issues instead of exclusively focusing on economic issues.

• Land confiscation in K’Ser Doh Township, Mergui-Tavoy District has resulted in land owners not having enough land to farm. This caused an increase in livelihood and education difficulties; in response, many young people have migrated to Thailand to pursue job opportunities.