Rohingya refugees urge steps to curb hepatitis in squalid Bangladesh camps

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) – Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are concerned after a report said hepatitis was spreading in squalid makeshift tents in the border district of Cox’s Bazar.

One-fifth of the adult Rohingya living in 34 refugee camps in a hilly site of Bangladesh’s main tourist hub of Cox’s Bazar, is infected with hepatitis C virus, according to a recent study.

The National Liver Foundation of Bangladesh (NLFB) conducted the study titled “High Prevalence of Hepatitis B and C Virus Infections Among Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh: A Growing Concern for the Refugees and the Host Communities,” which was published in January 2022 by a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

Underlining the issue as another big pain for the persecuted people, Mohammad Ziaur Rahman, a teacher at a camp-based Rohingya learning facility, told Anadolu Agency that after hearing this report, they are passing every day with tension.

Dr. Abu Toha M.R.H. Bhuiyan, a chief health coordinator at the office of Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner (RRRC), told Anadolu Agency that hepatitis, like HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), requires counseling to prevent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) would launch a special campaign to eradicate hepatitis in the camps, he asserted.

Underlining the task “not so easy” in such a congested environment like these camps, which house more than 1.2 million persecuted people and genocide survivors, he added that they would begin testing only after getting funds.

The treatment cost of the disease is also high. So it is really a very challenging job, he remarked.