Myanmars War Has Forced Doctors and Nurses Into Prostitution

After seven years of medical school in Myanmar, May finally achieved her goal of becoming a doctor.But a month after she graduated and found a job, her dreams started unraveling.In February 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup, and the country’s economy, already hammered by the pandemic, started to buckle.

Prices soared and May’s paycheck, the equivalent of $415 a month, evaporated even faster.With her father suffering from kidney disease, she grew more and more desperate.Then she met “date girls,” who were making twice as much as her.

The money was enticing — even if it involved sex with men.“It’s difficult to accept that, despite all my years of study to become a doctor, I’m now doing this kind of work just to make ends meet,” said May, 26, who has been working as a prostitute for over a year in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.She, like others who spoke for this article, asked not be identified by her full name because her family does not know how she earns money and prostitution is illegal in Myanmar.The coup and ensuing civil war have ravaged Myanmar’s economy.

Inflation soared to 26 percent this year as power shortages crippled factories, unseasonal rain flooded farms and fighting in areas near China and Thailand decimated cross-border trade.The currency, the kyat, has lost two-fifths of its value against the dollar this year.

Nearly half of Myanmar’s people now live in poverty, according to the World Bank.This calamity has forced a new cadre of women in Myanmar into sex work: doctors, teachers, nurses and other educated professionals.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe....