Challenges for Migrant and Cross-Border Populations With Diabetes Mellitus at Mae Tao Clinic in the Mae Sot–Myawaddy Border Region of Thailand and Myanmar

Abstract

The Mae Tao Clinic was established by Dr Cynthia Maung in 1989 in Mae Sot, Thailand, close to the border with Myanmar. The clinic provides primary health care, education, and protection to vulnerable and displaced people living in the Thailand-Myanmar border area. The leading vision of the organization is that all people from Burma (Myanmar) will have access to quality, equitable, and affordable health care, education, and protection in respect of all human rights. On yearly basis, the Mae Tao Clinic consults more than 100 000 outpatients and admits more than 10 000 patients to receive inpatient care. Many of the people served by the clinic cannot access affordable health care elsewhere principally due to lack of legal status, unaffordable costs, and language barriers.