Stroke is a major cause of disability in Ayeyarwady Division, which has the highest proportion of people with a disability in the country, a survey has found.Dr Mike Griffiths, a consultant with The Leprosy Mission International, said a national survey of 108,000 households conducted in 2008 and 2009 showed 3.27 percent of Ayeyarwady Division residents suffered from a disability, well above the national average of 2.32pc.

Dr Griffiths said in Ayeyarwady Division 47.4pc of disabilities were the result of disease, while 38pc were congenital, or present at birth, and 14.6pc because of injury.

He said stroke – the stoppage of blood flow to the brain, usually because of a blockage or rupture of a blood vessel – was a major cause of disability where the impairment was the result of disease. This was likely to be because of the delta diet but he said more research needed to be conducted.

“We don’t have disease-specific data at the state and divisional level but from our operational data we can see that stroke is a major cause of disability in [Ayeyarwady Division,” he said in an interview on July 28.

“Compared to areas in central Myanmar, the disability prevalence [in Ayeyarwady Division] is higher and the proportion of disability caused by stroke is higher.”

A health official based at Pathein General Hospital agreed diet was likely to be behind the high proportion of people with a stroke-related disability in the region.

“There are many hypertension cases in Ayeyarwady [Division]. We found that the residents eat a lot of very salty foods, such as fish paste and dried fish, and also use a lot of monosodium glutamate (MSG). In my experience, mohinga shops in Ayeyar-wady Division often compete with each other to see how many packets of monosodium glutamate they can use.”

She said MSG can cause cardiac problems, such as an extreme drop in blood pressure and rapid heartbeat, as well as neurological problems and reproductive disorders.

“In Myanmar, people use monosodium glutamate too much. We need to raise awareness among the public about [the possible health consequences].”

An estimated 1.3 million people are living with a physical or intellectual disability nationally, according to the survey, which was conducted in 2008 and 2009 by the Department of Social Welfare and The Leprosy Mission International.