A pregnant woman displaced by the conflict in Karenni State since May suffered a miscarriage in her seventh month.

“She had to run from place to place and therefore suffered from physical and mental illness. I also heard that she has low blood pressure,” said a woman helping the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in eastern Demawso Township, where both women live.

Another source said the 27-year-old woman, who has a five-year-old child, has symptoms similar to those of COVID-19 but hasn’t been tested at the Nway Oo Guru health centre, where she had her miscarriage on 23 October, because of the trauma of losing the baby.

“Yesterday she cried all day,” the second woman told Kantarawaddy Times.

According to the Karenni Civil Society Network, 144,449 people – more than half of Karenni State’s 286,627 residents – had been displaced by 10 October.

Some of these people have returned home, but many remain in IDP camps where food and medicine are in short supply. Another 5,000 people were displaced between 27 September and 10 October.