Since the early sixties the people of Myanmar lived under various forms of military rule. Health indicators stagnated at low levels, and progress towards development was slow[1]. There was little investment by the government in health services, so people bore 80% of the costs of their health services and turned to a range of private sector providers for the majority of services.[2] The quality of these services was often low and of limited range, with significant gaps in provision of preventive care, reproductive health and communicable diseases.