ENGLISH DEYEA NEWS

Anthony Jaffee THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Doctors and relief officials warned Thursday that time is running out to stop outbreaks of tropical diseases that could kill millions of survivors of a cyclone in Burma.

"This is a major complex humanitarian crisis and it is not over," Thomas Tighe, president of Direct Relief International, told reporters during a telephone news conference hosted by private aid groups.

Paul Anthony, medical director for Global Health Progress, said, "If people act now, there is an opportunity to save the lives of millions of people."

"There is no question that diseases and various types of infections are already on the rise," Dr. Anthony said. "This epidemic ... has already started."

An estimated 134,000 people are dead or missing as a result of Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma on May 2-3. Up to 3 million more might be vulnerable to starvation, malnutrition and disease.

The U.N. World Health Organization warned that limited access to clean water, shelter and sanitary conditions in Burma's cyclone-affected areas has led to conditions ripe for water and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue, especially with the coming monsoon season.

The United States has contributed over $35 million in disaster relief to Burma since the cyclone, yet aid efforts have been hampered by the reluctance of the military regime to grant access to the country.

Four U.S. Navy ships loaded with helicopters sailed away from the Burmese coast last week, after being refused permission for three weeks to deliver much-needed relief and medical supplies.

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images More than a month after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, villages remain in dire shape. An estimated 134,000 people are dead or missing.

The United Nations set a goal of $201.6 million for its relief efforts but has received only $113.2 million, or 56 percent, from government donors, it said. Some $51 million in pledges has yet to be delivered, the world body said in a separate news conference Thursday, according to the Associated Press.

"Funding is clearly not coming in at the rate we would hope," said Amanda Pitt, a U.N. spokeswoman in Bangkok. "Funding is urgently needed to sustain the pipeline for food and assistance."

Mr. Tighe, of Direct Relief International, told reporters the Burmese government continues to impede relief efforts.

"A lot of the [disease] surveillance that we know ought to be done in situations like this has not been done for over a month at the scale which one would expect," he said. "It took so long to sort through some of the [political] issues that it limited the response that was possible."

However, Mr. Tighe stressed that the situation is improving and that it's important to continue aid efforts, primarily by providing medicine and supplies and rebuilding Burma's public health system, which was 50 percent destroyed in the cyclone-affected regions.

"We're trying to keep this in the eyes of the public because important things are going to be going on in the coming months with these diseases," said Dr. Anthony. "And if people don't continue to invest in trying to help these people then there are going to be a lot of unnecessary deaths."