In Yangon alone, an estimated 400,000 residents live in informal settlements. High population densities, household crowding, unsanitary conditions, and lack of access to water and proper waste management systems, leaves residents with greater susceptibility to disease spread and pandemics such as COVID-19. Furthermore, poorly constructed structures also lead to an increased vulnerability to climate change, ...

A home is not just a roof over one’s head; it needs to be safe, secure, and resilient. Adequate housing provides people with dignity and the opportunity to lead a normal life. According to a recent survey of informal settlements in Dagon Seikkan conducted in collaboration with Doh Eain, residents in the informal settlements are ...

Access to water is a recognised human right, vital for leading a life of dignity, and is a prerequisite for realizing other human rights. UN-Habitat is working to implement water supply systems to provide safe and clean water to the residents of informal settlements in Yangon. As part of the preparatory work, a knowledge exchange ...

With the coordination of Fukuoka City, the Solid Waste Management Adviser’s Network Fukuoka (SWAN-Fukuoka), UN-Habitat Myanmar, and UN-Habitat Bangkok Liaison Office, participants from UN-Habitat Myanmar and selected INGO/NGO in Myanmar, visited Bangkok and Chonburi in Thailand from September 5th to September 9th, 2022. The program was designed to exchange knowledge and share understanding of the ...

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) in disease and virus prevention. However, most COVID-19 recommendations are impractical for informal settlements. Overcrowding, poor housing conditions, and a lack of access to water, sanitation, and waste management facilities make any form of physical or social distancing extremely difficult, and even ...

   Preventing the spread of COVID viruses through distribution of home care support packages to target households The majority of households in the informal settlements of Yangon rely on day-to-day work to meet their basic needs, and they do not have any savings or financial reserves to fall back on in times of crisis. This ...

Providing safe drinking water to those in need during the hot summer months As the summer heats up, communities in the informal settlements is having trouble getting enough drinking water. On average, the daytime temperatures reach more than 37 degrees Celsius on most days. Over 24,060 ten-liter water bottles have been distributed to 12,030 households ...

   Installing hand-washing stations in Yangon’s informal settlements and Rakhine benefits the most vulnerable communities Since the first wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Myanmar, UN-Habitat has been providing COVID-19 preventive measures to the communities in Rakhine and Yangon’s Informal Settlements, such as Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), soaps, hand sanitizers, and COVID-19 awareness IEC materials. As ...

Caption: Handwashing stations set up by UN-Habitat in informal settlements (Photo: © UN-Habitat) 16 September 2021 Continuing our COVID-19 response, recovery and prevention efforts from 2020 to protect the most vulnerable people in peri urban areas and highly densely populated areas, UN-Habitat will be working in 8 townships of Yangon, reaching out to at least ...