FILE PHOTO: A Rohingya refugee walks at a refugee camp in Cox's Bazar

WORLD

Massive increase in malnutrition for children in Rohingya refugee camps

The UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, says that severe acute malnutrition in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh jumped by 27 percent compared to the same period last year, and warns that in the camps, at least fifteen percent of the children are malnourished, and therefore eleven times more likely to die.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Severe acute malnutrition in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh is soaring, the United Nations Children's Fund has warned, stating it has surged by 27 percent in February 2025 compared to the same period last year.

Recent figures, UNICEF pointed out, show the crisis is worsening. In January 2025, cases of severe acute malnutrition rose by 25 percent compared to the same month last year, and February saw the even sharper increase at 27 percent, causing concerns for a dangerous upward trend.

Multiple compounding factors, the organization explained, are contributing to the disturbing escalation.

In 2024, there were prolonged monsoon rains that worsened sanitation and triggered spikes in severe diarrhea and outbreaks of cholera and dengue. Also worsening conditions were the impact of intermittent food ration cuts over the previous two years, leading to poor quality diets deteriorating further, as well as a growing number of families fleeing violence and seeking shelter in the camps in recent months.

Highest levels since mass displacement in 2017

Moreover, families are facing emergency levels of nutrition in Cox’s Bazar, the world's largest refugee settlement, home to more than a million Rohingya refugees, including more than 500,000 children.

In the camps, more than 15 percent of children are now severely malnourished, marking the highest levels recorded since the mass displacement of Rohingya refugees in 2017.

Eleven times more likely to die

At the start of the year, UNICEF estimated that 14,200 children in the Rohingya refugee camps would suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2025, while also warning that poor diets, factors affect water and healthcare in the camps, and declining food rations, could cause these numbers to climb.

The United Nations agency for protecting and assisting children warned that if children facing this condition are not treated in time, they are 11 times more likely to die than their well-nourished peers.

Throughout 2024, UNICEF provided life-saving treatment to nearly 12,000 children under the age of five suffering from severe acute malnutrition, a condition that leaves children dangerously thin, weak, and highly vulnerable to disease. Of those treated, 92 per cent recovered, but without urgent and sustained intervention, severe acute malnutrition can be fatal.

(Source: UNICEF)

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