EMERGENCY UPDATE:
Thousands of children and families living in the Rohingya refugee camps and host communities in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, are at risk from flooding and landslides following heavy rainfall in the past few days.
A seven-year-old boy has reportedly drowned, two children are injured, and vital infrastructure including water distribution points, latrines and UNICEF-supported learning centres and shelters have been damaged or destroyed.
UNICEF and partners have begun repairs to all affected services and medical teams are ready to be deployed if needed to monitor the health situation of children and mothers in the camps.
Monsoons bring new devastation to Rohingya children. We know from previous seasons, torrential rains cause landslides, damage hundreds of shelters and take lives.
Please consider making a donation to support children in urgent need.
Over a million Rohingya children have fled from violence in Myanmar only to face a whole new crisis in Bangladesh.
The vulnerable status of these children is heightened by extreme weather conditions and the approaching cyclone and monsoon season. UNICEF is on the ground reviewing and updating preparation plans.
We know from previous years the damage this season of immense rain and wind can cause - from floods to mudslides and outbreaks of disease. These children need your help, without it they are at risk of being even more exposed to death and destruction from the elements.
The Rohingya community are a stateless Muslim minority who have faced discrimination, exclusion and poverty in Myanmar for decades.
Mass killings and sexual violence have sparked a refugee crisis for over a million Rohingya children who have been forced to make the gruelling journey to Bangladesh. These children endured chronic conditons before they fled Myanmar, facing a dire existence in Bangladesh. They’re sick, hungry and struggling every day in the over crowded refugee camps.
Monsoons threaten to flood low-lying areas of the camps and wash raw sewage into family homes and water supplies. These are nightmare conditions for an outbreak of disease like cholera, which can spread through a crowded community with deadly speed.
UNICEF has been able to alleviate a huge loss of life however the health and development of the Rohingya children is severely compromised in these refugee camps. Currently over 683,000 children - out of over one million refugees - require urgent humanitarian assistance due to a risk of disease outbreaks, flooding and protection risks.
Refugee children are facing the double emergency of displacement and natural disaster. We won’t let them face it alone.
Your emergency donation can give Rohingya children:
- Safe water, sanitation and hygiene supplies to stop the spread of disease.
- Access to emergency health care, medicine and immunisations.
- Sachets of therapeutic food - a peanut paste specially formulated with the micronutrients children need to survive malnutrition.