The United Nations launched one of its biggest ever cholera vaccination drives in the vast refugee camps of southeast Bangladesh Tuesday amid fears of an outbreak among nearly a million Rohingya now living there. The UN is working with the Bangladesh government to vaccinate 650,000 people living in the sprawling camps against cholera, which spreads through dirty water and can kill if left untreated. An estimated 10,000 new refugees arrived on Monday. World Health Organisation workers supported by around a thousand local volunteers plan to vaccinate 650,000 Rohingya over the coming weeks. The UN says more than 600,000 have arrived in the last year, swelling camps that were already home to between 300,000 and 400,000 refugees.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 10, 2017 07:52 UTC