The International charity “Doctors Without Borders” has warned that hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims residing in refugee camps in Bangladesh may face serious risk of malnutrition, after international donors cut food aid allocated to them.
A statement by the New York-based organization stated that the reduction in food aid, which took effect this month, will increase the risk of refugees being exposed to malnutrition, and its impact on their health will be severe.
A leader of a group of refugees in the Kutupalong camp in Bangladesh told German News Agency (dpa) that the refugees in the camp have been notified of reducing the monthly food ration for each person from 1,222 takas to 1,022 taka ($9.54).
“Surviving will be very difficult in light of the revised quantity, as the prices of most commodities have increased in the past months,” said Muhammad Ayoub, whose family lives in the camp.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Tom Andrews made an urgent appeal to Member States earlier to reverse “the shameful, catastrophic cuts” to food rations for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh that began to be implemented on 1st March.
