The Rohingyas, Burma's Outcasts

SITTWE MYANMAR - MAY 4: Burmese Rohingya madrassa students pray at a local mosque on May 4, 2009 in Sittwe, Arakan state, Myanmar (Burma). The Rohingya Muslim minority live in Muslim neighborhoods in Sittwe. The situation of Rohingyas in Arakan has become worse after the international media began highlighting since December 2008 the Rohingya boat peoples' plight who are subject to severe restrictions of movement by the government, religious persecution, and extortion. The Rohingya are physically, linguistically and culturally similar to South Asians, especially Chittagonian people from Bangladesh. The Burmese government spends only 0.3% of the gross domestic product on health, the lowest amount worldwide, according to the United Nations Development Program 2008 survey (UNDP). Many Burmese are low income, living in the poverty-stricken rural areas and can't even afford to have a meal in a day. (Photo Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)