Since August 2017, hundreds of thousands of people from the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar have been forced to flee to Bangladesh. The lack of sexual and reproductive health care in the refugee camps makes women and girls particularly vulnerable. Joint efforts are needed to ensure that no one is left out, writes Dereje Wordofa at the UN Population Fund, UNFPA.
Since August 2017, hundreds of thousands of people from the Rohingya ethnic group in Myanmar have been forced to flee to Bangladesh. The lack of sexual and reproductive health care in the refugee camps makes women and girls particularly vulnerable. Joint efforts are needed to ensure that no one is left out, writes Dereje Wordofa at the UN Population Fund, UNFPA.
One year into the Rohingya refugee crisis, the needs of women and girls in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh's widespread refugee camp, are still far from being met.
The enormous logistical challenge involved in establishing housing and providing food and basic health care to more than 700 Rohingya refugees means that programs that provide women and girls with sexual and reproductive health care often end up lagging behind.
But imagine what it is like for women and girls who menstruate without having access to sanitary products. Imagine what it is like to live in a place where a visit to the toilet after dark puts you at immediate risk of sexual abuse. Imagine that you do not have access to contraception and risk an unwanted pregnancy in the world's largest refugee camp. And imagine what it is like to give birth under a tarpaulin on the ground, and the life-threatening challenges you would face without the help of a midwife or emergency care if complications arise.
In addition to degrading the dignity of women and girls, these challenges are also a matter of life and death.
It is a relief - for women and girls on the run, and for us who are there to help them - that a number of UN partners, including Sweden, have placed particular focus on vulnerable groups in their humanitarian aid to the Rohingya crisis.
This crisis is so extensive, and the suffering so intense, that everyone must take responsibility for ensuring that no one is left out.
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