The second phase of UNHCR’s shelter strategy is underway in preparation for the monsoon season. Since November, UNHCR and its partners has distributed some 27,600 upgraded shelter kits, composed of bamboo poles, ropes, tools, and tarpaulins, to help refugees build sturdier homes. Since November 2017, over 27,500 kits were distributed. In four days only, UNHCR’s partner ADRA completed the distribution for more than 2,600 families in Charmakul / Karantoli. In addition, UNHCR continues to collaborate with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC) to identify areas, which have the highest risk of landslides and to mobilize partners to prepare the sites for the upcoming rains.

UNHCR and partners have constructed almost 60 latrines, 70 bathing cubicles and 6 tube wells in Kutupalong and Nyapara. There are now over 4,600 latrines, some 1,920 bathing cubicles and 910 tube wells installed in the settlements.

The 190 active community outreach members (COMs), which cover four areas of Kutupalong, including the makeshift, Nayapara extension area and Chakmarkul, have conducted over 150 home visits and more than 210 information sessions, reaching out to some 3,500 refugees. Forty cases under monitoring have been resolved after actions by COMs and partners this week.

The authorities and UNHCR have identified a site for a transit centre to temporarily host new arrivals before they are allocated a plot in Kutupalong extension. UNHCR is coordinating with partners to set up medical services, sanitation facilities, family reunification, and provision of food and water.

Thousands of refugees from Myanmar have been admitted to Bangladesh after spending up to four days stranded near the border. By last night Bangladesh border guards reported that over 6,800 refugees had passed through Anjuman Para border village in Cox’s Bazar district. Thousands more are said to be on their way from Myanmar. The most vulnerable among the new arrivals are bussed from the border to a transit centre near Kutupalong camp. At the centre, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its partners provide food, water, medical checks and temporary shelter.

UNHCR and partners built 1,573 latrines and 200 tube wells. This represents over 78,000 who have access to latrines and 100,000 who have access to water. UNHCR continues to lead the coordination among WASH actors at the field level in both Kutupalong (including in the extension site) and Nayapara, providing technical guidance and support to improve compliance with WASH standards.

Over the past 10 days UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has received reports of some 30 improvised rafts arriving from Myanmar, carrying more than a thousand people. Unable to pay for the crossing, refugees are building rafts from whatever material they can get their hands on – mostly bamboo poles and empty jerry cans tied together with rope and covered with plastic sheets. More than 200 Rohingya refugees are known to have drowned in shipwrecks and boat incidents since the start of the crisis on 25 August.

UNHCR is expanding its community outreach into the new settlements and makeshift sites by identifying and setting up networks of trained community outreach members (COMs) to strengthen two-way communication, follow-up on persons with specific needs, carry out community-led solutions, and engage in prevention.

According to WHO, diphtheria is “rapidly spreading among Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar.” On 6 December, WHO warned that more than 110 suspected cases, including 6 deaths, have been clinically diagnosed by health partners, including Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC). Diphtheria is a highly infectious respiratory disease that spreads through droplet and can be deadly, particularly in overcrowded areas with no proper sanitation system. WHO is working with the Bangladesh Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), UNICEF, and partners to contain the spread of the highly infectious respiratory disease through effective treatment and adequate prevention. For its part, UNHCR immediately made part of the Rubber Plantation Transit Centre available to serve as a treatment and isolation facility for patients under MSF management. Sixty-eight patients were transferred on 9 December 2017. The outbreak has impacted the upcoming relocation of some 10,000 refugees currently in border areas in Bandarban district; their relocation will be delayed to allow for the vaccination of children.

The new school year has started. So far, 7,082 refugee children, from the registered camps and the new settlements, are enrolled in primary education. The Department of Primary Education has provided children in Kutupalong registered camp with National Curriculum Textbooks. While enrolment is ongoing, 22 sessions were organized to sensitize communities on the start of the school year and education more broadly. Over 300 refugees participated