Good Will Hunters

Welcome to Episode 78 of Good Will Hunters from the Development Policy Centre. Today on the show we have Diana Fernandez and Faisal Bin Seraj. Diana is the Deputy Country Representative for the Asia Foundation in Myanmar and Faisal is the Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Bangladesh. Myanmar and Bangladesh, like all countries, have been hit by Covid-19. At this stage, the economic impacts are outweighing the health impacts, despite both countries having fragile health systems. Diana and I discuss Myanmar’s economic dependence on China, and how this has impacted on Myanmar’s response to Covid-19 including the closure of their borders along with the emergence of Chinese NGOs. We discuss why Myanmar’s healthcare system is ranked as one of the worst in the world, and why the Ministry of Health recognises that it cannot cope with a Covid-19 outbreak. We also discuss the internet blackout occurring in Myanmar, as revealed by a private telecommunications provider, Telenor, who was ordered by the Minis