WIREDGOV

A consignment of Unicef emergency supplies for hundreds of thousands of refugee Rohingya children and their families has arrived in the Bangladeshi capital, Dhaka.

The cargo plane arrived from Copenhagen with 100 tons of supplies comprising water purifying tablets, family hygiene kits, sanitary materials, plastic tarpaulins, recreational kits for children and other items.

The supplies will provide urgently needed assistance to the estimated quarter of a million Rohingya child refugees who are among the 429,000 people to have fled across the border from neighbouring Myanmar in recent weeks. The refugees are now living in desperate conditions in southern Bangladesh.

“Ensuring that children and families have safe water for drinking and washing is absolutely essential in order to protect them against diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases,” said Edouard Beigbeder, Unicef Representative in Bangladesh. “This is a very real threat given the current situation in the camps and makeshift settlements where the Rohingya are now living, especially amid the current heavy rains.”

Other consignments – consisting of school bags, tents, early childhood development kits, family hygiene and dignity kits, tarpaulin and nutrition materials – are also on their way to Bangladesh.

The supplies will be delivered by truck to the southern city of Cox’s Bazar, where an expanding international response is mobilising to address the plight of the growing number of Rohingya refugees arriving in Bangladesh.

Unicef is seeking £5.4 million in additional funding for its work in southern Bangladesh over the next three months, but additional funds will be necessary as the refugee population continues to grow.

Help Rohingya children fleeing violence, donate to provide life-saving supplies www.unicef.org.uk/donate/rohingya-refugees/

For more information please contact:

Unicef UK Media Team, 0207 375 6030, media@unicef.org.uk

About Unicef

Unicef is the world’s leading organisation for children, promoting the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.

Unicef UK raises funds to protect children in danger, transform their lives and build a safer world for tomorrow’s children. As a registered charity we raise funds through donations from individuals, organisations and companies and we lobby and campaign to keep children safe. Unicef UK also runs programmes in schools, hospitals and with local authorities in the UK. For more information please visit unicef.org.uk