People have very limited diagnostic and treatment options in the camps. MSF is calling for a joint humanitarian effort to combat the disease among this stateless population, already deprived of basic rights and heavily dependent on aid for survival.
Hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus, can remain dormant for a long time in those infected. If untreated, it can attack the liver and lead to serious or even fatal complications, usually cirrhosis or liver cancer, with an increased risk of developing several conditions, including diabetes, depression, and heavy fatigue, a press release said on Tuesday (June 12).
Faced with an influx of hepatitis C patients in the Cox’s Bazar camps over the last few years, Epicentre, MSF’s epidemiology and research center, carried out a survey of 680 households in seven camps between May and June 2023.
The results revealed that nearly a third of the adults in the camps had experienced a hepatitis C infection at some point in their lives. Of these, almost 20 percent have an active hepatitis C infection.
“As one of the most persecuted ethnic minorities in the world, the Rohingya population is paying the price for decades of lack of access to healthcare and to safe medical practices in their country of origin,” Sophie Baylac, MSF head of mission in Bangladesh, said.
The Rohingya community’s widespread use of unclean healthcare equipment, like syringes, in alternative healthcare practices could potentially contribute to the ongoing transmission and high prevalence of hepatitis C in the overcrowded camps, according to Sophie Baylac.
The study’s results, extrapolated to all the camps, indicate that approximately one in five adults, or 86,000 people, currently have a hepatitis C infection and need treatment to recover.
“Our teams have to turn away hepatitis C patients every day because the need for care exceeds the capacity of our organization alone. For these patients, there are barely any other available and affordable alternatives. Sophie Baylac continued, “This is a dead end for a stateless population deprived of the most basic rights, already facing dead ends in all areas of their daily lives.”
Access to diagnosis and treatment is inadequate in many low- and middle-income countries, making this disease a potential public health threat. Yet, direct-acting antiviral drugs can cure over 95 percent of those infected. In Cox’s Bazar’s overcrowded Rohingya camps, access to hepatitis C virus diagnosis and treatment is almost nonexistent. For four years, MSF has been the sole provider of hepatitis C care. Yet the need for treatment is extremely high.
Legally, Rohingyas cannot work or leave the camps. She added that paying for expensive diagnostic tests and drugs, or obtaining appropriate care outside the camps, is out of reach for those we cannot treat.
“Most Rohingyas simply cannot be cured and resort to alternative methods of care, which are not effective and not without risks to their health,” said Sophie Baylac.
