40% people in Rohingya camps have scabies: Survey

Nearly 40 per cent of people in Bangladesh’s Rohingya refugee camps have scabies, show results of a prevalence survey conducted by the camps' health sector coordination earlier this year.

The results of this survey, conducted over 200,000 consultations for scabies since March last year, were presented to MSF and other organizations working in the camps in May. In some camps, this figure is as high as 70 per cent.

MSF Head of Programmes in Bangladesh Karsten Noko said, “It is unfathomable that a scabies outbreak should have been allowed to go on for this long, causing pain, suffering and indignity to so many.

“These are people who were forced from their homes by persecution and violence. They live in camps behind fences. They have no legal status and no right to work. They have no choice but to depend entirely on humanitarian aid. Yet repeated funding cuts have reduced again and again the assistance available to them.”

He added, “These figures show the consequences. We strongly call on the health sector, donors, and all other actors who can help make this happen, to develop and implement a comprehensive, multi-pronged response that finally addresses both the treatment and prevention of scabies on a large scale, and the appalling water and sanitation conditions that have allowed this outbreak to grow out of control.”