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A Rohingya camp in Bangladesh
Photo: Mahmud Hossain Opu / AP
According to a new study by the aid organization Doctors Without Borders, almost 40 percent of Rohingya refugees in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh suffer from scabies. The outbreak has been going on for over a year, the organization said. "It is unbelievable that an outbreak of scabies has lasted so long, causing people suffering and depriving them of their dignity," said Doctors Without Borders' head of operations, Karten Noko.
A health official at the Bangladeshi authority, which cares for the Rohingya, also told the dpa news agency: "We are trying to control the outbreak with our limited resources by treating the camp residents and educating them about the importance of hygiene." The disease spreads very quickly, especially in view of the lack of hygiene among the camp residents who live very close together, he said. Often five or six people lived in a small room, made of bamboo, for example, and shared the same beds and clothes.
Rash and itching
Scabies is a contagious, non-fatal skin disease caused by mites. The mites live in the skin and also lay eggs there. Because of excretions of the mites, there are skin reactions such as severe itching and a larger rash can also occur.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya have been living in overcrowded camps in Bangladesh for years. They fled there in 2017 from the Buddhist-majority neighboring country of Myanmar, when the local military launched an offensive against the Muslim minority.
The UN describes the persecution of the Rohingya as genocide. The Rohingya had lost their citizenship through a law passed in 1983 by the then military junta in Myanmar. Bangladesh hopes that they will return to Myanmar soon. So far, several repatriation attempts have failed due to security concerns of the refugees.
jpa/dpa