First, they faced brutal persecution as a people, and now fear is spreading through the Rohingya refugee camp of an impending COVID-19 catastrophe.
The Cox's Bazar camp in Bangladesh is the world's biggest, with the surrounding districts hosting just two ICU beds.
In a labyrinth of bamboo huts, the Rohingya lead a fragile existence.
Death stalked these people as they fled their homeland in Myanmar. Now, a new threat.
"It does feel like there's a storm approaching, and it's just a matter of where it's going to hit, and when and to what extent," says MedAir country director and Aucklander Carl Adams.
That storm is of course COVID-19, and with a population of 855,000, these are prime conditions for the virus.
Sieda Begum is worried for her family and the wider community.
"We need so much soap and water," she says. "One family might have 10 or 15 members."
With a ban on the internet, public health advice is spread by volunteers and megaphones.
But these people are hopelessly ill-prepared.
Adams works for a medical agency that partners with the aid group, Tearfund.
"When the virus does reach the camps, it will just run through there and the impact will just be devastating so there's a real sense of fear at the moment and we're trying to do all that we can to be prepared."
Ian McInnes, the chief executive of Tearfund NZ and the chair of the Council for International Development says: "It's just a rabbit warren, a sea of humanity. You have 40,000 people per square kilometre."
In 2018, Newshub's Michael Morrah visited the camps.
Even then, and without the threat of COVID, food and medical services were stretched.
"Malnutrition rates for both women and children are close to emergency levels. The Rohingya are here for life-saving nutritional support and everyone comes with a tale of terror from their homeland in Myanmar," Morrah reported in August 2018.
- If you have more information, contact Michael in confidence by emailing michaelmorrah@mediaworks.co.nz
Isolation tents will be set up as part of a plan to treat the sick.
But it's a place where social distancing is an idea that simply can't be applied.
"I'm terrified about it. We went to appeal last week because we don't really know entirely how to stop this," says McInnes.
Even outside the camps in Dhaka there is chaos. There were panicked scenes as people tried to flee the capital on ferries when the government announced a 10-day holiday to combat the virus.
COVID-19 has left an already impoverished nation even more desperate, with authorities confirming this week community transmission in the capital is now widespread.
If you'd like the support the Rohingya refugees, you can make a donation here.
