Cynthia, originally from Myanmar, has been running the Mae Tao Clinic in Thailand since 1989. Over 200,000 refugees and immigrants from Myanmar receive free healthcare here. Most of these are children. The clinic also trains medics who return to their villages in Burma or to refugee camps in Thailand to work.

The clinic sends hundreds of “backpack medics' to Myanmar. They carry medicine, train children in health and hygiene and treat 150,000 internally displaced people, many of them children.

Cynthia’s clinic gives birth certificates to the many children who lack these, runs two schools and school hostels, and regularly visits 50 other refugee schools to give the children vitamins, vaccinations and teach them about health and hygiene. Cynthia’s clinic also runs children’s homes, teaches about the environment and HIV and AIDS, and gives food to malnourished children.

Learn more about Cynthia in the Globe Magazine from 2007:

Text: Johanna Hallin, Photos: Tora Mårtens

The facts and figures on this page were accurate at the time of writing, in 2007