The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS)
Mobilizing Myanmar’s private sector to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals
UNOPS partners with mobile telecommunications operator Ooredoo to improve access to health services across the country.
To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the mobilization of trillions of dollars in new investments to support infrastructure and other development projects is required.
In an effort to mobilize private sector investments for sustainable development, UNOPS has partnered with mobile telecommunications operator Ooredoo, who has invested $3.1 million to help combat high maternal and child mortality rates across Myanmar.
Through this, UNOPS is working with the Ministry of Health and Sports to design and construct 17 primary healthcare centres in rural and peri-urban communities throughout the country. The health centres are located in eight states and regions to serve community health needs, focusing especially on maternal, newborn and child health.
The first two healthcare centres were handed over to the Ministry of Health and Sports at inauguration ceremonies held on 8 March in Kan Tinn and Kyet Phyu Taung in the Bago Region.
Midwife Thin Thin Htike has worked in Kan Tinn for the past 12 years. Before the new health centre opened, she provided basic healthcare services in a cramped building.
We did not have running water and only had one battery-powered lamp. The old health centre was not suitable for deliveries, so I helped women give birth in their own homes instead.
The Ooredoo-UNOPS partnership is one example of how the private sector can help a developing country achieve the SDGs. The investment in health infrastructure is helping accelerate Myanmar’s progress towards reducing maternal mortality, ending preventable deaths among newborns and children under five, and reducing the neonatal mortality rate.
Learn more about the partnership here.
