UNICEF emergency supplies for Rohingya refugee children arrive

A consignment of UNICEF emergency supplies for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugee children and their families has arrived in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka.

The cargo plane arrived from Copenhagen with 100 tonnes of supplies, comprising water purifying tablets, family hygiene kits, sanitary materials, plastic tarpaulins, recreational kits for children, and other items.

The supplies will provide urgently needed assistance to the estimated quarter of a million Rohingya refugee children, who are among the 429,000 people to have fled across the border from neighbouring Myanmar in recent weeks. The refugees are now living in desperate conditions in southern Bangladesh, the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund stated in a press release on Sunday.

"Ensuring that children and families have safe water for drinking and washing is absolutely essential in order to protect them against diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases," said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh.

"This is a very real threat, given the current situation in the camps and makeshift settlements where the Rohingya are now living, especially amid the current heavy rains," he added.

Other consignments consisting of school bags, tents, early childhood development kits, family hygiene and dignity kits, tarpaulins and nutrition materials are also on their way to Bangladesh.

The supplies will be delivered by truck to the southern city of Cox’s Bazar, where an expanding international response is mobilising to address the plight of the growing number of Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh.

UNICEF is seeking US$7.3 million for its work in southern Bangladesh over the next three months, but additional funds will be needed as the refugee population continues to grow.