The United States is providing an additional $87 million in humanitarian assistance through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to support Rohingya refugees and host communities in Cox’s Bazar. With this new funding, USAID will work with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) to provide critically needed food and nutrition assistance, as well as infrastructure maintenance, disaster risk reduction, and self-reliance and livelihoods support. This additional funding, together with contributions from other donors, will also enable WFP to raise food rations for the nearly one million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
The food and nutrition assistance includes electronic vouchers for staple and fresh foods at designated distribution sites, as well as support to feeding programs for malnourished children six months to five years of age and pregnant and lactating women. In addition, through infrastructure maintenance and disaster risk reduction programming, WFP will work with the community to maintain and improve public infrastructure within the camps.
The United States is the leading contributor of humanitarian assistance in response to the Rohingya crisis, having provided nearly $2.4 billion since the outbreak of violence in August 2017, including nearly $1.9 billion to assist Rohingya refugees and host communities in Bangladesh.