Rohingya crisis
Agencies work to contain diarrhoea outbreak
Staff Reporter, Ctg
The UNHCR or UN Refugee Agency along with Bangladesh public health authorities and other partners are working on several fronts to contain a diarrhoeal outbreak among more than half-a-million Rohingya refugees residing in the country, a press release said yesterday. The press release was issued by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic in Geneva.
A 20-bed diarrhoea treatment centre opened on Monday in the Kutupalong refugee camp in the southeast of the country, where the refugees who have been living there since 1992 have taken in thousands of newcomers. UNHCR has gathered national and international NGOs under the banner of the governments Refugee Health Unit to run more such centres, the press release said.
By the end of this week, we will have a total of 80 beds in diarrhoea treatment centres in three locations, and we plan to open two more centres next week. From today, our staff, along with refugee volunteers, will fan out in the Kutupalong refugee camp and informal settlements nearby to find people who might be sick but have not sought treatment, it added.
UNHCR also plans to open medical consultation centres with attached oral rehydration corners this week across the 2,000-acre Kutupalong extension site where many of the estimated 507,000 refugees who have arrived since August 25 are now congregating to receive assistance.
The move is aimed to bring medical care closer to those in need. Refugees who are found to be suffering from moderate dehydration can be treated immediately at these smaller centres. Those who require more intense therapy can be referred to the larger diarrhoea treatment centres.
UNHCR is also supporting an effort by the health ministry to administer cholera vaccinations to refugees. Cholera is endemic in Bangladesh and can easily spread any time as hundreds of thousands of people live in close proximity without proper sanitation.
As yet, there is no firm statistics on cases of acute watery diarrhoea among the newly arrived refugees, and we are taking action to try to prevent severe illness and deaths. We have seen an increasing trend of diarrhoeal disease cases, including those with severe
dehydration. So far, refugees with these conditions have been treated at clinics run by the UNHCR and other agencies as well as at local public healthcare facilities, the release said.
The UNHCR, along with its partners, has also installed 32 shallow tubewells and set up 250 latrines so far as part of the measures to prevent the spread of disease.
The UNHCR spokesperson said it was vital to provide clean water so that people do not drink from or bathe in contaminated ponds and streams.
In another move to speed up delivery of aid to refugees, UNHCR, along with Bangladeshs Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission (RRRC), is starting a family count to collect data on the newly arrived refugees and their needs. Some 100 newly recruited enumerators will start going from shelter to shelter from today (Wednesday) to daily list some 1,000 families, which should comprise about 5,000 individuals.
Each family will receive a card bearing the RRRC logo. The process will enable the government, UNHCR and other participating agencies to target the right people for receiving aid. The process will also give the first indication of refugees with special protection needs, such as pregnant women, breast-feeding mothers, people with disabilities or elderly refugees on their own.
