Culture, context, and mental health of Rohingya refugees

In August 2017, a major humanitarian crisis in the Rakhine State of Myanmar triggered a mass exodus of around three-quarters of a million stateless Rohingya refugees into neighbouring Bangladesh, adding to the estimated 200,000–300,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh who had fled Myanmar earlier and the estimated 73,000 Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. Limited information is available on the culture and mental health of the Rohingya, which poses significant challenges to the provision of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and related services to this group. Therefore, UNHCR commissioned this document with the aim of providing a concise review of the literature concerning the culture, context, mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of Rohingya refugees.