SITTWE MYANMAR – MAY 4: Burmese Rohingya wait in a crowded room for malaria test results at special clinic for malaria on May 4, 2009 in Sittwe, Arakan state, Myanmar (Burma). The majority of the patients treated belong to the Rohingya Muslim minority who live in Muslim neighborhoods in Sittwe. The situation of Rohingyas in Arakan has become worse after the international media began highlighting since December 2008 the Rohingya boat peoples' plight who are subject to severe restrictions of movement by the government, religious persecution, and extortion. The Rohingya are physically, linguistically and culturally similar to South Asians, especially Chittagonian people from Bangladesh. The Burmese government spends only 0.3% of the gross domestic product on health, the lowest amount worldwide, according to the United Nations Development Program 2008 survey (UNDP). Malaria, a disease that is relatively easy to treat is one of the number one killers in Burma due to a lack of good and affordable diagnosis and drugs. At a clinic, in the capitol city of Arakan state run by an aid organization, over 220,000 cases of malaria were treated over the last year with the number of cases doubling in the monsoon season. Many low income people living in the poverty-stricken rural areas can't even afford to have a meal in a day. The poor suffers the most in Burma since they can't afford to pay for healthcare. (Photo Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
