Concern started working in Cox’s Bazar in September 2017, and initially focused on the immediate needs of the population - by providing much needed food items and later, with funding from the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), began distributing non-food-items.
Concern currently provides nutrition services to women and children in nine locations with support from our donors such as UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP). Each month, Concern volunteers, comprised largely of Rohingya refugees, conduct house-to-house visits over the difficult geographical terrain and have screened over 49,500 children under five years of age for malnourishment, admitting 6,140 to our outpatient clinics.
However, there is still a huge amount of need. Over half of the inhabitants of Cox’s Bazar are children and sadly, one in six Rohingya children under the age of five in the camps are malnourished, which equates to around 32,000 children that need urgent support and care.
We remain hopeful that a solution to this crisis will be found and that there will be the safe and peaceful return of the Rohingya to their homes. In the meantime, a continued response to the urgent humanitarian needs is required, along with support for a longer-term developmental response.