The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Travails of Rohingya Refugees in the Largest Bangladeshi Refugee Camp

Abstract

This chapter focuses on life in a Rohingya refugee camp in Bangladesh, where experiences of social exclusion and 'Othering' have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It refers to a combination of extreme health challenges, crowding, and a dramatic loss of economic livelihoods that were caused by restrictions placed on interactions between those in the refugee camp and those outside. It also recounts health experts that warned that if the virus reached the world's largest refugee camp, it would spread like wildfire and Bangladesh might become devastated by COVID-19 due to the arrangements of camp settlements. The chapter points out that the population density in the Rohingya camp is more than 100,000 people per square mile and sanitation options are scarce. It mentions the groceries, kiosks, health centers, and schools that are all located within the camps, making congestion worse.