Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) opens a new COVID-19 isolation and treatment centre in the Nayapara refugee camp, in the Teknaf upazila (sub-district) of Cox’s Bazar district. The opening of the Severe Acute Respiratory Infection — Isolation and Treatment Centre (SARI-ITC) is...
Young Bangladeshi mother Noor Haba pulls her headscarf close around her face with one hand; with the other she strokes the back of her seven-year-old daughter Shahara, who lies semi-conscious on the hospital bed. Shahara is being treated for thalassaemia, a genetic blood disorder. “I’m afraid all...
One of the most densely populated countries in the world, Bangladesh also houses the world’s largest refugee camp. Across Cox's Bazar, nearly one million Rohingya refugees live in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions. As COVID-19 spreads through Bangladesh, these are the five key challenges to...
In recent weeks, there have been numerous discussions in Malaysia related to the country’s ability to provide a safe haven for people in need of protection, after having survived a treacherous journey by sea.
Loaded like human cargo into a wooden fishing trawler, around 500 people attempting to reach Malaysia from refugee camps in Bangladesh were starved and beaten by people smugglers during a two-month voyage.
In a pink room decorated with white flowers at Médecins Sans Frontières’ (MSF) Kutupalong field hospital in Bangladesh, a woman lies curled around her sleeping child. Next to her, a young mother cradles a baby whilst her other daughter plays with a balloon. Rows of beds stretch in either direction...
Metun (name changed on request) is a Rohingya refugee in the Kutupalong-Balukhali megacamp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. He previously lived in Rakhine, Myanmar, working for NGOs there. He now volunteers with NGOs in the sprawling refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Here he shares his hopes and fears with...
Sitting in a teashop in Kutupalong megacamp, Bibi Jan tugs on her sleeve. She’s covering up scars inflicted during the largest-ever episode of violence against the Rohingya, in August 2017. She tells us of the events that forced her to flee to Bangladesh: her two brothers were killed, she herself...
