Burma: Human Trafficking

(asked on 27th February 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, with reference to her Department's press release entitled UK aid protecting women from trafficking in Burma – and helping them into jobs published on 18 February 2019, whether the Government has received assurances that UK aid provided to Sittwe General Hospital will not be used to underpin reported apartheid practices at that hospital.


Answered by
Alistair Burt Portrait
Alistair Burt
This question was answered on 4th March 2019

The UK is working with the Ministry of Health in Burma to upgrade Sittwe General Hospital to provide better health services for all communities in Rakhine State. The refurbishment will go in hand with work to ensure that hospital access and referral networks ensure that it serves all communities. The UK specifically supports the women and children health ward and modernising the building to make it safer for patients. This is in line with Recommendations 40 and 42 of the Kofi Annan-led Rakhine Advisory Commission.

Through the Access to Health Fund, the UK is also providing funding to NGOs working at the community level to improve health care in Rakhine for all communities and expanding to areas which are hard to reach.

Reticulating Splines