145,000 Rohingya children escaping Myanmar face malnutrition

World

Published: 2017-10-06 10:26

Last Updated: 2024-03-28 09:33


Displaced Rohingya people in Rakhine State. (Wikimedia Commons)
Displaced Rohingya people in Rakhine State. (Wikimedia Commons)

Approximately 145,000 Rohingya of the children seeking refuge in Bangladesh are at risk of severe malnutrition, a UK charity has warned.

According to the Disasters Emergency Committee charity, at least 14,000 of the refugee children under the age of five are suffering from “severe acute malnutrition.”

There are also reported to be more than 50,000 pregnant and breastfeeding Rohingya women in need of proper food rations, the charity said on Thursday.

Children are among the over half a million Rohingyas who have fled their country following a intense rise in violence since August 25, prompted by a number of purported armed attacks on police and military posts in the western state of Rakhine.

Burma's military responded by launching “clearance operations” against the rebels, prompting violence that has left hundreds dead and thousands of homes burned.

The influx of Rohingya from the western Burmese state of Rakhine into Bangladesh since 25 August is “the world’s fastest developing refugee emergency,” according to the United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.