Asia: Burma

Fifty years ago Burma (also known as Myanmar) was one of the wealthiest countries in Southeast Asia. Today it has mortality rates on par with Sierra Leone and the Congo.

But unlike its African counterparts, not one international aid agency operates in eastern Burma. In this region about 12 percent of the population is infected with malaria, the most common cause of death, and that over 15 percent of children are malnourished.

Human rights advocates based along the border in Thailand say the current military offensive underway in eastern Burma, against the Karen ethnic minority, is the worst they have seen in ten years.

These photographs were made in one such area, in the autumn of 2006.