This morning (Monday 7th April), Sky News and several national news outlets including The Telegraph, The Independent and The Mirror report that the UK has announced fresh support to help protect desperate Rohingya families in Cox’s Bazar ahead of the dangerous monsoon season.
This £70 million UK aid package will provide medication, sturdier shelters, food, clean water and support for women to give birth safely, as the upcoming rainy season threatens to wash away fragile camps and cause outbreaks of disease to spread more rapidly.
The UK is also helping to support a large vaccination campaign against cholera in and around the Cox’s Bazar camps that will benefit almost a million people – made up of both Rohingya families and Bangladeshis living near the camps.
International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt said:
“The scale of this crisis is growing daily. With the devastating cyclone and monsoon season looming, even more lives could be lost, landslides could wipe out shelters and fatal diseases could spread.
“The UK is leading the way to help vaccinate people against a deadly cholera outbreak, strengthen shelters, and provide vital food and water to vulnerable Rohingya families who have already been forced to flee their homes because of brutal violence and persecution.
“The Bangladeshi Government must now use their expertise to ensure Rohingya families are saved from the dangerous rains.
“Across the globe countries were quick to respond to the plight of the Rohingya people last year, but what is needed is a longer-term commitment to these vulnerable men, women and children who have suffered so much.”
This UK aid is expected to provide up to:
- 200,000 people with the necessary materials to strengthen their shelters;
- 300,000 people with food assistance and clean water;
- 30,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women and 120,000 under-fives with emergency nutrition;
- 50,000 women – many of whom will give birth during the rainy season – to have access to midwifery care;
- 52,900 women and girls to have access to bathing cubicles; and
- 50,000 people with access to healthcare services.
The UK has been a leading donor and today’s announcement of humanitarian support takes the UK’s total support for the crisis since August 2017 to £129 million and builds on the work the UK is doing throughout Bangladesh to prepare for and respond to the incoming monsoon rains.