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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Gordon Cole-Schmidt in Cox's Bazar

No soap, no tents, no food: Rohingya families fight for survival as aid plummets

A sleeping baby has a tape passed around its upper arm. The measurement window shows a red warning.
A baby is assessed for malnutrition. Doctors in Cox’s Bazar say this September saw an 11% increase in admissions for severe acute malnutrition. Photographs by Mirja Vogel Photograph: Mirja Vogel

The light of a single lightbulb powered by a backup generator lasts just long enough for Noor and Sowkat to see the faces of their newborn babies for the first time. The two children were born on the same night on a crumbling foam mattress, its corners ripped to shreds by the thousands of women who have gone into labour here in Camp 22’s makeshift delivery room.

The newborns have just become the youngest residents of the world’s largest refugee camp, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, which is struggling to operate in the face of a 63% deficit in humanitarian aid funding.

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