The Back Pack Health Worker Team (BPHWT) is a community-based organization that has been providing primary health care for almost twenty years in the conflict and rural areas of Burma, where access to quality free/affordable primary healthcare is otherwise unattainable. The BPHWT provides a range of medical care, community health education and prevention, and maternal and child healthcare services to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and other vulnerable community members in Burma.
Doctors and health workers from Karen, Karenni, and Mon States established the BPHWT in 1998. The organization initially included 32 teams, consisting of 120 health workers. Over the years and in response to increasing demand, the number of teams has gradually increased. Currently, the BPHWT consisted of 114 teams, with each team being comprised of three to five trained health workers who train and collaborate with five to ten village health workers and five to ten trained traditional birth attendants.
The BPHWT teams target displaced and vulnerable communities with no other access to healthcare in Karen, Karenni, Mon, Arakan, Chin, Kachin and Shan States, and Pegu, Sagaing and Tenasserim Regions. The teams deliver a wide range of healthcare programs to a target population of over 300,000 IDPs and other vulnerable people. The BPHWT aims to empower and equip people with the skills and knowledge necessary to manage and address their own health problems, while working towards the long-term sustainable development of a primary healthcare infrastructure in Burma.
The BPHWT works with communities in its target areas to implement its three health programs, namely the Medical Care Program (MCP), Maternal and Child Healthcare Program (MCHP), and Community Health Education and Prevention Program (CHEPP). The BPHWT encourages and employs a community-managed and community-based approach where health services are requested by communities and the health workers are chosen by, live in, and work for their respective communities.
The vision of the Back Pack Health Worker Team is that of a healthy society in which accessible and quality primary health care is provided to all ethnic people in a Federal Union of Burma.
Our Mission
The Back Pack Health Worker Team is a community-based organization established by health workers from their respective ethnic areas. The BPHWT equips ethnic people, living in conflict-affected, rural and remote areas, with the knowledge and skills necessary to manage and address their own health care problems, while working towards the long-term sustainable development of a primary healthcare infrastructure in Burma.
Our Goal
The goal of the Back Pack Health Worker Team is to promote the emergence of quality and accessible health care for all ethnic people so as to reduce morbidity and mortality, and minimize disability by enabling and empowering communities through primary health care.
