Disease is now the biggest enemy of more than 600,000 Rohingya who have fled violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state over the past two months. With few signs that they can return to their homes anytime soon, the threat of infections looms large in Cox’s Bazar Rohingya refugee camps, the Daily Star reports. Cox’s Bazar Civil Surgeon Dr Abdus Salam told the Daily Star that a total of 347, 000 refugees had so far received treatment at different health centres. On Monday countries pledged a total of US$345 million to care for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, which the United Nations called an “encouraging” step in the response to the intensifying crisis. In the latest crackdown, Myanmar’s security forces fired indiscriminately on unarmed civilians, including children, and committed widespread sexual violence, according to UN investigators.

Source: The Nation Bangkok October 24, 2017 18:00 UTC