More than half of the over 1.2 million Rohingya sheltering in the camps of Ukhiya and Teknaf in Cox's Bazar and on Bhasan Char are children. The first part of a two-part Dhaka Post special report says aid shortfalls, malnutrition and infectious disease are putting their childhood at risk. According to UNICEF, UNHCR and partner agencies, at least 624,000 children need urgent humanitarian help.
UNICEF figures show that in February 2025, admissions of severely malnourished children rose 27 percent year on year, from 836 to 1,062; in January the rise had been 25 percent. The agency warned that about 14,200 children could become severely malnourished over 2025.
Up to June 2026, 169,700 children in Cox's Bazar and Bhasan Char were screened for malnutrition, and 6,800 with severe acute malnutrition received emergency treatment. 87,300 parents were counselled on infant and young child feeding, and 168,700 children received vitamin A capsules. Seven partner agencies run integrated nutrition facilities in 33 camps, where residents call the women counsellors "pushti apa" (nutrition sisters).
There is a new worry. Since early 2026, the treatment of severe malnutrition with medical complications has moved from the specialised nutrition sector to general primary health care, and hospital admissions of such children have fallen sharply. UNICEF fears they are not being identified or referred properly; referral systems are being strengthened and health workers retrained.
A WHO public health needs assessment for 2025-26, surveying 2,014 households, found the share of households with chronic illness rose from 19.2 percent in 2024 to 32.5 percent in 2025, antenatal care uptake fell to 35 percent and incomplete child immunisation reached 27.8 percent. In June, WHO said the health sector in Cox's Bazar faced a 64 percent funding gap, which could weaken disease surveillance and emergency response.
Sadia Arafin, a nutrition counsellor in Kutupalong camp, said treating malnutrition often starts not with medicine but with patient conversation and persuasion, and that seeing a severely malnourished child's appetite return and weight rise is the greatest reward.
Photo: Anton Gutmann / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); children in Kutupalong camp
Source: Dhaka Post
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