As the number of corona patients increase, Save the Children will open a new isolation and treatment centre in Cox's Bazaar in the coming days to support the treatment of the sick and provide security for the communities.
The crowded Rohingya refugee camp is home to 855`000 people. To understand how children and young people from the world’s largest refugee settlement are affected by the corona pandemic, Save the Children spoke to 223 children and adolescents. Almost half of the Rohingya refugee children in Bangladesh are afraid of dying or losing loved ones.
Currently, there are at least 46 confirmed cases of corona in the camps and five deaths due to the virus. However, testing capacity is limited and the actual number is likely to be much higher. In one in ten households in the camps, at least one person over five years of age suffers from a chronic illness or disability, which increases the risk of complications or death if they contract the virus. In addition, almost half of the refugees aren’t getting enough daily nutrition. We can assume that malnourished children are potentially at higher risk of contracting corona. This is because their immune systems are weakened by the daily inadequate nutrition.
New isolation and treatment centre
To meet the urgent health needs of the communities, Save the Children will open a new isolation and treatment centre with a capacity of up to 60 beds in the coming days. It provides higher level care for confirmed and suspected corona patients from both the Rohingya refugee community and the local community in Cox’s Bazaar.
Our new isolation and treatment center will offer care for moderate to severe cases of people with suspected and confirmed coronavirus disease. The center will be staffed by an expert team of 80 health professionals and support staff, including members of our emergency health teams who have extensive experience in dealing with outbreaks.
In the densely packed Rohingya refugee camps, latrines and washing facilities are shared; “social distancing” and self-isolation are a major challenge. The urgency of the support and resources needed in health care is obvious, and the international community must continue to support the government of Bangladesh.
Save the Children’s work on the ground focuses on three key areas:
- Information on pandemic and protective measures in the communities
- Continuation of our existing life-saving health services
- Provision of specialized clinical care for corona patients in the new isolation and treatment centre
Watch now the video with the short report from Bangladesh: