Ukhiya, Bangladesh: Tropical diseases, including chicken pox, pneumonia, fever and measles, have recently spread among children inside unofficial refugee camps inhabited by Rohingyas at Kutupalong and Lada, in eastern Bangladesh, a refugee elder from Kutupalong said.
”Many refugee children have been suffering from chicken pox and measles since the middle of January. The affected children are being taken to the Medicins Sans Frontieres (MSF) clinic,” according to the source.
“Mostly, refugee children five to seven years old are suffering with these diseases.”
The Kutupalong makeshift camp is situated in open fields on hilly terrain, buffeted by cool winds, where the shacks of the refugees are made with plastic, bushes and branches. The refugees are also suffering because they have no warm clothes to protect them from the cold.
A refugee health worker said the children are now suffering with pneumonia.
Similarly, refugees living in the Leda (unregistered) camp are also suffering from the same topical diseases recently, said an aide who works with Muslim Aid.
Over 40,000 non-status Rohingya refugees live in Kutupalong and more than 12,000 in the Leda camp without being granted official refugee status by the UNHCR or Bangladeshi authorities.
