18 May 2026 By Kan Htun
SITTWE, Myanmar — Women in the blockaded Rakhine State capital of Sittwe are facing severe reproductive health risks due to an acute shortage of menstrual hygiene products, caused by a sweeping military embargo on essential consumer goods.
Local residents report that the ruling military junta has heavily restricted the import of sanitary pads and infant diapers into the town. The move is widely seen as part of the military’s “four cuts” strategy designed to sever logistics lines, but it has inadvertently triggered a silent humanitarian crisis targeting civilian women and young families.
“The military’s total ban on transporting sanitary pads and diapers is clearly a military siege tactic,” a local resident told MPA. “But for the women trapped here, it has become a frightening daily struggle with immediate consequences for their physical health and personal dignity.”
Due to the total lack of fresh supplies, many women in Sittwe have been forced to resort to using makeshift cloths. In local grocery stores, the remaining stock of commercially manufactured sanitary pads consists entirely of expired items.
Desperate for protection, many women have no choice but to purchase these expired products at heavily inflated prices. A small pack of eight sanitary pads, which previously cost 1,500 MMK, now sells for an astronomical 7,000 MMK (approximately $2 USD).
Medical professionals and local health workers have raised urgent alarms over the practice. “Using expired or unhygienic alternatives poses a massive risk to women’s reproductive tracts,” a local health source warned. “We are deeply concerned about a potential rise in severe urinary tract infections (UTIs), toxic shock syndrome, and chronic fungal infections. Menstrual hygiene is an essential healthcare need, not a luxury.”
Rights advocates have also condemned the blockade, labeling the deliberate denial of basic hygiene items as a form of gender-based institutional violence and a profound violation of fundamental human rights.
The regime has maintained a multi-layered economic blockade on Sittwe since mid-2025, systematically cutting off highways and waterways to prevent commercial goods, emergency foodstuffs, and lifesaving medicines from entering the township.
As the siege chokes the city’s economy, the residents of Sittwe find themselves bearing the brunt of a war of attrition where even basic biological functions have become a battleground.
