Civilians displaced by recent fighting in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region are in urgent need of medicines, according to humanitarian workers.

Malaria and dengue fever cases have been reported at displacement camps in Dawei, Yebyu, Thayetchaung, Myeik and Tanintharyi townships, and there is an urgent need for medical supplies, said one charity worker.

“As the rainy season has arrived, we urgently need medicines to treat malaria and dengue fever,” he said.

It is difficult to transport medicines and food supplies donated by people as the regime has imposed tight security checks along the Myeik-Tanintharyi-Dawei road in the country’s southeast.

Displacement camps also need more healthcare professionals to provide medical treatment for displaced people, according to health workers.

“There are still not enough health workers to provide treatment for IDPs. Pharmacists are providing treatment for them now,” said a health worker assisting the IDPs.

More than 3,000 people have been forced from their homes to displacement camps and surrounding forests by fighting this month between Myanmar’s junta and a coalition of the Karen National Defense Organisation and allied resistance groups in areas controlled by the Karen National Union’s Brigade 4.