GENEVA, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said Tuesday it is preparing for a new influx of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar into Bangladesh as UN agencies said they are working on mass immunization against the threat of cholera.
UN migration agency, IOM, spokesperson Joel Millman said, "Since August 25, an estimated 519,000 Rohingya refugees have arrived in Bangladesh having fled violence in Myanmar in the largest and speediest movement of a civilian population in Asia since the 1970s."
Speaking at a media briefing, Millman said that the IOM is, with health teams in Cox's Bazaar, Bangladesh in a race to prevent an outbreak of cholera among the more than half a million Rohingya refugees who have arrived in the past six weeks
It launched a mass immunization operation to dispense oral cholera vaccine, he said.
The first round of the campaign, carried out at sub-district level, will immunize 650,000 Rohingya men, women and children, aged one year and above, over the next seven days, said Millman.
More than 4,500 Rohingya have already been treated for diarrhea and many others for dehydration, with over 14,000 children under the age of 5 having severe acute malnutrition, according to the Inter Sector Coordination Group in Cox's Bazar, said IOM.
Malnourished children are at least six times more prone to die from a diarrheal disease like cholera.
The International Coordinating Group on Vaccine Provision is working on this in an operation that brings together WHO, (World Health Organization) UNICEF, MSF, and the International Federation of the Red Cross.
At the same briefing, UNHCR spokesperson, Adrian Edwards said the agency is working with the Bangladesh authorities on a transit center to prepare for a potential refugee influx in the coming days.
"This is in view of yesterday's sudden increase in people arriving from Myanmar," said Edwards.
He noted that Bangladesh border guards reported that more than 11,000 Rohingya refugees crossed by land the day before into southeastern Bangladesh through several points.
Edwards said the current arrivals are approaching some of the earlier peak levels in the current period.
"Clearly, we have to be ready for more arrivals. It is still a situation that has the potential to worsen," he said adding, "Help needs cannot be overstated." Enditem
