UNFPA’s Ongoing Work with Rohingya Refugees

A mass exodus of more than 725,000 Rohingya people from Myanmar began in mid-August 2017, with many forced to flee to Bangladesh, adding to the estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who had already fled to Bangladesh in previous years. 

UNFPA, the United Nations reproductive health and rights agency, remains in Bangladesh, caring for women and girls in what has become the world’s largest refugee camp.

To deliver safe motherhood, UNFPA has trained and deployed 100 midwives focused on the refugee population. When pregnant women are forced from their homes, midwives are key to ensuring they deliver their babies safely. 

UNFPA has also opened 18 women-friendly spaces – places that offer women and girls a safe place to talk, receive information and care, and participate in recreational activities. Rohingya women aptly refer to these facilities as “homes of peace.” 

Thanks in part to Friends of UNFPA donors support, UNFPA is able to operate mobile health clinics that reach people too afraid to travel outside of their tents to receive medical care. 

Read the UNFPA Report on delivering supplies during the Rohingya crisis here