WHO gears up for monsoon in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh

With the onset of the rainy season, the WHO today said it is strengthening contingency measures along with health partners for the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh to minimise the health impact of the monsoon for nearly 1.3 million people living in Cox's Bazar.

WHO Representative to Bangladesh, Bardan Jung Rana said WHO and health sector partners are working with the Bangladesh government to maintain life-saving primary and secondary health services for Rohingya refugees and their host communities in the ongoing rainy season.

"Heavy rains, floods and cyclone are expected to further deteriorate the already suboptimal water and sanitation conditions in the overcrowded refugee camps, increasing the risk of infectious disease such as acute watery diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis, dengue fever and malaria, among others," said Rana.

As a preventive measure, a massive cholera vaccination campaign was conducted in May targeting one million people the refugees, their host communities and people residing in close vicinity to the camps.

This was the second massive cholera vaccination campaign for the Rohingyas, with 900 000 doses administered in November-December last year.

"The ongoing phase is critical, as the health risks are huge in the ongoing rainy season, and the grossly underfunded health sector, including WHO, is struggling to ensure continuity of services to save lives of this highly vulnerable population, the WHO representative said.

As part of the contingency measures, 22 diarrhoea treatment centres (DTC) with a total bed capacity of 597, and hundreds of oral rehydration points (ORPs), have been set up across the various camps.

Sixteen mobile medical teams (MMTs) have been constituted, trained and kept ready for immediate deployment in the event of outbreak of infectious diseases, floods and landslide.

WHO has prepositioned 75 metric tonnes of cholera treatment supplies while the global health body's stockpile for monsoons also includes 20 basic inter-agency emergency health kits (IEHKs) with drugs, medical devices and equipment to meet the health needs of 200 000 people for three months.

"The Bangladesh government values the support of all health partners in strengthening the health care delivery system, which is critical to save lives in the current settings, and also if the situation worsens," said Dr Abdus Salam, Civil Surgeon, Cox's Bazar.

To reduce the risk of an outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea, WHO has been supporting testing of quality of drinking water.

As part of contingency planning, camp-level focal points have been identified and trained earlier on emergency response plans.

"The list of secondary health facilities, those expected to be operational 24X7, isolation facilities and ambulances is being reviewed and updated periodically," a WHO statement said.

Earlier in the week, WHO organised a refresher training for health sector partners on early warning, alert and reporting system (EWARS which is a WHO-led surveillance system to identify disease outbreaks), with the focus on notification of cases of acute watery diarrhoea and procedure for diarrhoeal treatment centres.