Myanmar War and the compulsion of prostitution…an ugly face of war, which forced doctors and teachers to enter the prostitution business.

In the year 2021, the situation in Myanmar started getting worse when the army overthrew the democratically elected government. However, in the last few years, many stories have come to light of hundreds of people facing exile and yearning for their lives due to the war in Myanmar. But an ugly face of Myanmar’s war has come before the world. Due to the war in Myanmar, doctors, teachers and nurses have been forced to enter the prostitution business. After seven years of medical school in Myanmar, he finally achieved his goal of becoming a doctor. But a month after graduation and getting a job, her dreams started falling apart. In February 2021, Myanmar’s military seized power in a coup and the country’s economy, already affected by the pandemic, began to falter. Prices soared and May’s salary of $415 a month evaporated even faster. With her father suffering from kidney disease, she became more desperate.

Then he met date girls who were earning twice as much as him. There was lucrative money involved, even if it involved sex with men. Describing her ordeal, the woman, who has been working as a prostitute for more than a year in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city, said that it is difficult to accept that despite all my years of studying to become a doctor, I am now only I am doing this kind of work to fulfill my needs. He also requested to keep his and his family’s identity secret. Her family doesn’t know how she makes money. Let us tell you that prostitution is illegal in Myanmar.

The coup and subsequent civil war have devastated Myanmar’s economy. Inflation soared to 26 percent this year as power shortages shuttered factories, unseasonal rains flooded fields and fighting in areas near China and Thailand destroyed cross-border trade. According to the World Bank, nearly half of Myanmar’s people now live in poverty. The disaster has forced a group of women, doctors, teachers, nurses and other educated professionals into sex work in Myanmar. It is difficult to ascertain how many women are involved in this trade, but women roaming the streets have become more visible. In interviews, half a dozen women who had turned to prostitution said that more educated women are now having sex with men to earn a living.