UNICEF supplies for Rohingya kids arrive in Dhaka

The first consignment of UNICEF emergency supplies for hundreds of thousands of refugee Rohingya children and their families has arrived in Dhaka, the UN agency says.

The cargo plane arrived from Copenhagen with 100 tonnes of supplies comprising water purifying tablets, family hygiene kits, sanitary materials, plastic tarpaulins, and 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 who have fled across the border from neighbouring Myanmar in recent weeks.

“Ensuring that children and families have safe water for drinking and washing is essential to protect them against diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF Representative in Bangladesh in a statement on Sunday.

“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”.

The next consignments consisting of – school bags, tents, early childhood development kits, family hygiene and dignity kits, tarpaulin and nutrition materials – are also on its 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 says it is seeking $ 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.