Dhaka, March 12 -- Bangladesh is launching its first surveillance study to track drug-resistant (DR) malaria in the Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar amid growing concerns that resistant malaria parasites are circulating in neighbouring Myanmar.

The surveillance is led by icddr,b in collaboration with the national and humanitarian partners, as this spread could threaten Bangladesh's progress towards eliminating malaria by 2030, said icddr,b on Wednesday.

The Rohingya camps lie close to the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, where artemisinin (a group of drugs) resistance has already been reported. Frequent cross-border movement, high population density, and limited surveillance in humanitarian settings may increase the risk of resistant par...