UNICEF emergency supplies for Rohingya refugee children arrive in Bangladesh
DHAKA, Bangladesh, 24 September 2017 - A consignment of UNICEF emergency supplies for hundreds of thousands of refugee Rohingya children and their families has arrived in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.
The cargo plane arrived from Copenhagen with 100 tons 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 child refugees 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.
“Ensuring that children and families have safe water for drinking and washing is absolutely essential in order to protect them against diarrhoea and other waterborne 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.”
Other consignments – consisting of school bags, tents, early childhood development kits, family hygiene and dignity kits, tarpaulin 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 in additional funding for its work in southern Bangladesh over the next three months, but additional funds will be necessary as the refugee population continues to grow.
#
Note to Editors:
About UNICEF
UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. For more information about UNICEF and its work for children visit www.unicef.org.
For multimedia content please visit here.
Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook
For further information please contact: Jean-Jacques Simon, UNICEF Bangladesh, Tel: +88 0171 304 3478, [email protected]
Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF Spokesperson in Geneva, Tel: +41 799 6392 44, [email protected]
