Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
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36 943 people received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine during the first round of COVID-19 vaccination campaign in the Rohingya refugee camps, which reached 86% of the target population.
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WHO Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) team provided support to Immunization and Vaccine Development (IVD) team for the documentation of COVID-19 vaccination program in the refugee camps.
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The Government of Bangladesh has received approval from the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision to launch an OCV vaccination campaign for Rohingya refugees.
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SUBJECT IN FOCUS – Water Quality Surveillance (WQS): A tool to ensure safety of drinking water in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar
COORDINATION, PLANNING AND MONITORING
WHO, together with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) and office of Refugee Relief & Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC) continues to provide leadership, coordination, supportive supervision and collaborative support to all health partners and sectors responding to the COVID-19 response and maintaining essential health services.
The first round of COVID-19 vaccination campaign (including mop-up) for Rohingya refugees aged 55 years and older was carried out from 10-23 August 2021- with 86% vaccinated among the target population. The second round is awaiting government directives.
At present, Community Health Workers (CHW) are undertaking active case finding for AWD, referring persons with symptoms, disseminating key health messages and distributing ORS/Zinc in households reporting symptoms. In addition, enhanced surveillance is ongoing utilizing EWARS and 22 sentinel testing sites. At field level, Joint Assessment Team (JAT)s are investigating in and around the household of any Cholera case and ensuring necessary public health measures. At present, 72 active and 400 standby beds are dedicated for AWD management. A coordination meeting among Health, WASH & CwC actors takes place in quick succession.
The Government of Bangladesh has received approval from the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision to launch an OCV vaccination campaign for Rohingya refugees.
During the reporting period, feedback from Health Sector partners is being incorporated into the ‘General Health Card’. In the coming weeks, the final draft with an operationalization SOP will be submitted to RRRC and Civil Surgeon for review and endorsement. Following the endorsement, this card will be initially piloted prior to further roll out.
The updated Health Facility Gap Analysis has been shared with health partners: this document helps the interested partners to plan for establishing new health facilities as per the need of respective camps. Currently, some organizations are going though transitions in programming and funding and a change in the landscape is expected in the coming weeks and months.
During the reporting weeks, a total of 12 camp-level Health Sector Coordination Meetings were held (maintaining precautions against COVID-19). Strengthening COVID-19 and monsoon response was addressed among different working group partners. In addition, Rapid Investigation and Response Team (RIRT) coordination meetings are ongoing in the camps to strengthen the COVID-19 enhanced surveillance.