USAID announces $75m assistance for Rohingya

The US Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced an additional $75 million in humanitarian assistance to help Rohingyas in Cox’s Bazar and members of the Bangladeshi host community meet ongoing needs that have been exacerbated by the increasing costs of food and fuel.

The new funding that will provide critical and life-saving assistance to nearly 600,000 people is being disbursed through U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a US embassy press release said on Thursday (January 26).

With this new funding, USAID will work with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) to provide critically needed food and nutrition assistance, infrastructure maintenance, disaster risk reduction, and logistics support.

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, according to the press notice.

These programs will target populations residing in 33 Rohingya camps and 130 sites in the local Bangladeshi community.

In addition, through disaster risk reduction programming, WFP will work with the community to maintain and improve public infrastructure within the camps. Bangladesh hosts more than one million refugees, of whom a majority are ethnic Rohingya.