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Bangladesh + 1 more

Bangladesh: Humanitarian Situation Report No. 16 (Rohingya Influx), 24 December 2017

Attachments

Highlights

  • The humanitarian situation for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh remains dire, with some 655,000 refugees newly arrived since 25 August 2017. At least 58% of them are children. Even if the pace of arrivals has slowed down, thousands of refugees continue to arrive every week, adding pressure on already heavily stretched resources on the ground.

  • As of 21 December 2017, 2,071 cases of suspected diphtheria were reported with 24 deaths. Over 50 per cent of these deaths occurred among children younger than five years of age. As of 20 December, a total of 66,119 children between 6 weeks and 6 years were vaccinated with Pentavalent, bOPV and PCV vaccine.
    Among the older group, 44,022 children were vaccinated with Td vaccine. To support the vaccination effort UNICEF trained 880 partner staff and volunteers and informed/mobilized 114 Imams and 103 majhis.

  • UNICEF pursues its support to the WASH sector to scale up the hygiene promotion, a component that has been lagging in the response. 70 trainers from the WASH sector received training on hygiene promotion.

  • Last week, UNICEF opened 97 new learning centres, trained 137 new teachers, and enrolled 9,960 new students (aged 4-14 years).

  • Thanks to the generous funding support from donors, UNICEF’s current appeal is 92 per cent funded. UNICEF will need an estimated US$ 144 million for its Rohingya response in 2018.

SITUATION IN NUMBERS

720,000 Children in need of humanitarian assistance

1.2 million People in need (HRP 2017-18)

379,900 Children (arrived since 25 August) in need of humanitarian assistance.
The figure is based on ISCG SitRep 21 December 2017. The number is increasing.

655,000 New arrivals since 25 August (ISCG SitRep, as of 21 December 2017)

Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs

The influx of Rohingya refugees from northern parts of Myanmar’s Rakhine State into Bangladesh restarted following attacks at Myanmar Border Guard Police posts on 25 August 2017. As of 21 December, the Inter-Sector Coordination Group (ISCG) reported that 655,000 Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh since the attacks. According to ISCG’s rapid needs assessment, 58 per cent of new arrivals are children and 60 per cent are girl children and women including a high number of pregnant (3 per cent) and lactating women (7 per cent). With the new influx, the total number of Rohingya who have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh, coupled with the affected population in the communities, has reached an estimated staggering 1.2 million. There are 720,000 children among the new arrivals, existing Rohingya populations and vulnerable host communities who are affected and need urgent humanitarian assistance including critical life-saving interventions.

The inter-agency Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for 2017-2018 identified the areas of WASH, health, nutrition and food security and shelter for immediate scale-up to save lives in both settlements and host communities. As per the HRP, the Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar is highly vulnerable, many having experienced severe trauma, and are now living in extremely difficult conditions. The limited WASH facilities in the refugee established settlements, put in place by WASH sector partners including UNICEF prior to the current influx, are over-stretched, with an average of 100 people per latrine. New arrivals also have limited access to bathing facilities, especially women, and urgently require WASH supplies including soap and buckets. Given the current population density and poor sanitation and hygiene conditions, any outbreak of cholera or Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD), which are endemic in Bangladesh, could kill thousands of people residing in temporary settlements. Urgent nutrition needs have been prioritized for children aged under five (including infants), pregnant and lactating women and adolescent girls. These include close to 17,000 children under five suffering from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) to be supported over the next six months. Nutrition sector partners plan to cover 70 per cent of the identified needs in the makeshift and new settlements, host communities and official refugee camps. Moreover, children, adolescents and women in both the Rohingya and host communities are exposed to high levels of violence, abuse and exploitation including sexual harassment, child labour and child marriage and are at high risk of being trafficked. Finally, more than 450,000 total Rohingya children aged 4-18 years old are in need of education services.