Although the government has carried out a mass vaccination campaign among Rohingyas, health experts believe that the risk of an outbreak of diseases like measles and diphtheria still remains as a threat unless their living conditions are improved.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), an international humanitarian organization, expressed its concerns even after the Bangladesh government's massive vaccination programme was launched in December last year.
The MSF suggests that there is an urgent need for a better response from organizations providing healthcare to mitigate the risk of diseases and to ensure that all those who need vaccinations receive them.
As the settlements continue to expand, refugees face unequal access to basic services such as healthcare, food and water, which increases their vulnerability, the MSF observed.
"Work is continuing on a new road but additional improvements to access need to be made to ensure aid reaches everyone," it said.
When asked about the present status of Rohingya refugees' healthcare facilities Dr Misbah Uddin Ahmed, Upazila Health and Family Planning Officer of Ukhiya in Cox's Bazar, said right now the condition is good after vaccination campaign.
"We had distributed about two lakhs and 64 thousands vaccination so far and planning to distribute more in the coming months," he said.
About 9 people including six Rohingya children died between December 23 and 27 last year and also about more than 2,000 suspected cases were reported and the majority of patients are between five and 14 years old.
Although vaccination programme was successful other basic healthcare services such as water and sanitation is still not satisfactory.
Sharing a real reality and ordeals of the Rohingya refugees, an official from the Oxfam said many Rohingya women use their collected cloths to respond nature's call and throw here and there posing serious health problems.
AJM Zobaidur Rahman, Media and Communication Coordinator of Oxfam, said they are working to distribute drinking water to the Rohingya refugees in different camps of Cox's Bazar.
Expressing concern over the scarcity of the drinking water, he also said, the coming days will be more terrifying due to lack of drinking water.
"The underground water is going down and so collection of drinking water will be more difficult,' he said while talking to the Daily Observer. It is needed to mention it here that more than 48,000 Rohingya babies are expected to be born in Bangladesh this year beginning their lives in camps and makeshift settlements.
Earlier Dr Istiaq Mannan, Deputy Country Director of Save the Children, said a few of those babies will be born in health facilities and from day one will be at an increased risk of getting sick, suffering malnutrition and therefore dying before the age of five.
According to the Needs and Population Monitoring Report, approximately 4.9% of the total Rohingya population in Bangladesh is pregnant women.
It is estimated that 15% will have a miscarriage, meaning there will be an estimated 4,015 live births per month or 48,184 live births in 2018.
Children make up approximately 58% (379,900) of the 655,000 Rohingyas in Bangladesh, according to UNICEF.
Since August 25 over 688,000 Rohingyas have fled from Myanmar into Bangladesh and the influx still continues.
Five months on, the situation for Rohingyas remains precarious; they are still living in makeshift shelters in overly populated settlements.
Many lack access to safe drinking water and have poor hygiene and sanitation conditions.
"What we see remains an acute emergency situation with huge humanitarian needs," said the MSF.
Living conditions for the refugees need to be massively improved with a particular focus on improvements to water and sanitation, shelter, reducing population density.
In the current context of dense population and poor water and sanitation conditions, the risk of people falling ill is high.
Rohingyas are a vulnerable population who had little or no access to routine healthcare including vaccinations in Myanmar. People are already facing the spread of measles and diphtheria in the settlements.
Dr Abdul Salam, Civil Surgeon of Cox's bazaar said the government had taken all measures to prevent the risk of an outbreak of such diseases.
Already we have successfully launched the vaccination programme, the measles and diphtheria diseases are now under our control, he said in a telephone interview.
