The mesh network of local organizations supported by CPI reaches more than 12 million people in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Thailand with health and humanitarian services.
CPI hosts the 4th International Community Health Workers (CHW) Symposium, highlighting the immense contributions of CHWs to universal health coverage, health equity, and health system strengthening.
Following the devastating earthquake in central Myanmar in March 2025, CPI supported local organizations to reach more than 240,000 people with essential medical care, shelter, food, safe water, cash assistance, and recovery support.
CPI launches a five-year project to strengthen civil society, service provision and governance for conflict-and poverty-affected communities in Myanmar.
As conflict escalates across Myanmar, CPI equips local organizations to meet humanitarian needs and sustain essential services for displaced and conflict-affected communities.
CPI mobilizes resources to strengthen the COVID-19 response led by local organizations in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
CPI supports local organizations in Myanmar to launch and scale up COVID-19 prevention and care in the early stages of the pandemic.
CPI expands its strategic focus in health to encompass wider determinants of well-being, including nutrition and food security, livelihoods, water, sanitation and hygiene, education, renewable energy and the physical environment.
CPI leads large-scale strategic initiatives in Myanmar to increase access to HIV and TB treatment and testing, focusing on populations at the highest risk.
CPI launches operations in Bangladesh to support humanitarian assistance and longer-term health, safe water, sanitation, and hygiene services for Rohingya refugees and Bangladeshi communities.
CPI advocates for and facilitates local organizations’ involvement in drafting Myanmar’s National Health Plan (2017-2021) and cooperation on immunization and other essential health services.
CPI CEO Dr. Si Thura receives InsideNGO (now Humentum)'s 2016 Emerging Leader Award at their Excellence Awards, recognizing his work supporting CPI’s innovation, collaboration, and operational excellence.
PI facilitates groundbreaking cooperation between the Myanmar Ministry of Health and local organizations in an innovative project to prevent, control and eliminate drug-resistant malaria in eastern and northern Myanmar.
Elections bring nascent democratization. CPI facilitates partners’ cooperation with the Myanmar Ministry of Health and expands coverage to all of Myanmar’s states and regions.
CPI co-founder Dr. Tom Lee receives the University of California, Berkeley, 2010 International Public Health Hero Award for his work on health crises in Myanmar’s conflict zones and his leadership and vision in defining vital new roles for community health workers in hard-to-reach settings.
CPI launches Cyclone Nargis emergency response in the Ayeyarwady Delta, and first Myanmar office opened in Yangon to support communities in central Myanmar.
CPI expands coverage to support local organizations in northern and western Myanmar. Community partners supported to collect health data at scale. CPI and partners develop the “walking blood bank” to enable blood transfusions in low-resource settings, and innovative training for trauma medics in conflict zones.
CPI supports local organizations to address key health priorities, including maternal and child health, infectious diseases and traumatic injuries from gunshot wounds and landmines.
CPI is formed to equip local organizations in Myanmar to address the most urgent health and humanitarian priorities facing conflict- and poverty-affected communities.
Community Partners International (CPI) was founded in 1998 as war and displacement devastated Myanmar. Local groups and informal networks were already delivering care in places no one else could. CPI emerged from partnerships between U.S. doctors, volunteers, and Myanmar’s frontline health networks, not to replace them, but to strengthen them.
From the outset, CPI embraced principles of flexibility, decentralization, and resilience. Long before “mesh network” and “authentic localization” became our explicit language, we operated in that spirit: enabling communities to lead, adapt, absorb shocks, and sustain services.
For over 25 years, CPI has stood alongside communities through wars, disasters, and epidemics.
Today, CPI remains the quiet bridge and convener, equipping, connecting, and trusting those closest to the challenges.
From our origins on Myanmar’s eastern border to the present day, CPI has championed local organizations as leaders of health and humanitarian services. Find out how we advance authentic localization and build trust to ensure that lifesaving services reach those who need them most.
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