Through Humanity Auxilium's COVID-19 Outreach Project, we've been able to support and protect so many Rohingya refugees from this deadly virus.
Rehena Begum is a pregnant woman, aged 28, with four children and a husband currently living in a small shelter of Camp 17. She became pregnant after positive cases of COVID-19 were identified in the refugee camps.
During this initial COVID-19 period, community members actively avoided health centres, so that they will not have to be referred to isolation facilities, where a pregnant woman should seek medical care after a certain period of time.
The social stigma was not any different for Rehana Begum.
“I became pregnant after the Coronavirus arrived, but I could not go out of home because of fear.” said Rehana.
Even after becoming sick while being pregnant, she did not seek medical care because of the stigma surrounding the virus.
“I was suffering from cough, fever and headache, yet I did not go to any health facility out of fear,” she says.
Then, Outreach Teams from Humanity Auxilium's community-based surveillance and primary medical care project, in response of COVID-19, reached out to her and checked her medical condition. The team brought her to the project coordination health facility, where the project medical staff treated her with medical relief and nebulization.
During her follow-up assessment, she also suffered from loss of appetite, dizziness and loose motion for which she was prescribed with appropriate medication.
“Sisters came from the Turkish Red Crescent health facilities and brought me to the doctors. The doctors gave me medicine which relieved me from sufferings and struggle," says Begum.
The Outreach Team was also providing awareness about COVID-19, as well as information about what to do about her pregnancy during COVID-19. Both Begum and her husband expressed their doubts about delivering their child at the hospital in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The medical team advised her to have her delivery at a hospital, where it would be safer.
But alarmingly, later on, her son sought medical care with a respiratory infection, while her husband had complaints of headache and neck pain and was diagnosed with hypertensive. Both of them have been treated accordingly.
These refugees continue to need our help and support during the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more or to donate to this project, please visit our COVID-19 Outreach Project page.
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