Rohingya emergency one year on: UN says thousands of lives saved, but challenges remain

Significant progress has been made in protecting hundreds of thousands Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh since they fled violence in Myanmar, but lives "will once again be at risk" if funding is not urgently secured, UN officials have said on the eve of the first anniversary of a military crackdown that forced them to flee their country.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya, most of them Muslims, have been displaced from Rakhine since the military began a crackdown on militants last August. Most have crossed the border into Bangladesh, joining the 200,000 refugees already there.

Deputy Director-General of Emergency Preparedness and Response for the UN World Health Organisation (WHO) Peter Salama told journalists in Geneva that deadly disease outbreaks had been held at bay in Bangladesh's Cox's Bazar despite "all the conditions being in place for a massive epidemic".

Outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, polio, cholera and rubella have been contained, he said, noting that "thousands of lives" had been saved so far, thanks to the joint efforts of the Bangladesh Government, WHO and partners.

"We need to sustain the vigilance for early warnings of infectious diseases," Salama said. "That is still a major risk due to the environmental situation, the poor sanitation, the massive overcrowding, the way these people are being housed and we need to maintain our ability to scale-up outbreak response as required."
"This was the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world and the challenges have been immense, he said, highlighting comments by the agency's Chief of Mission in Bangladesh Giorgi Gigauri. Countless lives have been saved thanks to the generosity of the Government of Bangladesh, the local community and donor s and the hard work of all those involved in the humanitarian response. But we now face the very real threat that if more funding is not urgently secured, lives will once again be at risk."
"Most humanitarian organisations that have been working in Northern Rakhine state for years have still not been able to resume programmes and services for these population which are some of the most vulnerable in the world."