NEW YORK, March 31, 2020 – Today Orbis International released a new study demonstrating the demand for comprehensive eye services in refugee settings and providing a roadmap for other organizations doing similar work. The study was published in a special issue of peer-reviewed medical journal PLOS Medicine focusing on refugee and migrant health.
Following an outbreak of violence in August 2017, over 742,000 Rohingya, members of a stateless Muslim minority, fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, making Kutupalong refugee settlement in Cox’s Bazar the world’s largest. Since February 2018, thanks to support from the Qatar Fund for Development, Orbis and partner Cox’s Bazar Baitush Sharaf Hospital have been providing vision screenings, glasses, and cataract surgery for children and adults in the Rohingya population and surrounding host communities in southeast Bangladesh.