We've expanded our programs to support the most vulnerable children and their families. We’re helping children access essential services like health care, education and protection. Save the Children has worked as a leading charity for children in Myanmar since 1995, and has offered sponsorship since 2017. Learn more about the Rohingya refugee crisis. With little access to essential services, and at heightened risk of disease, abuse and exploitation, these children need your help to survive.
Hundreds of thousands of Myanmar’s children are now living in overcrowded refugee camps, including the world’s largest in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh. In 2017, rapidly escalating violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State caused thousands of reported deaths and human rights abuses, forcing over half a million ethnic Rohingya to flee the country for their lives in what the United Nations called a "textbook example of ethnic cleansing." Today, most schools in Myanmar have been closed for nearly one year, which means that 9.7 million children have missed out on classroom-based learning. On February 1, a military coup began that has thus far killed more than 785 people, including more than 69 children. This crisis comes at a time when armed conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic already pose severe challenges in Myanmar, especially for marginalized communities. The country also has a troubled political history, including its unfinished transition from military dictatorship to democratic rule. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has vast natural resources, but the majority of its population is poor, living on less than $2 a day.