Nur Kayda (25) a mother of two is provided with a cooked meal, she is feeding her seven-month-old child at the ACF feeding center in Kutupalong extension, Cox’s Bazar. WFP provided food to thousands of Rohingya refuges every day in the early days of their arrival into Bangladesh. © WFP/Saikat Mojumder
UNHCR-supported Community Kitchen in Nayapara Rohingya refugee settlement. The community kitchen was set up by members of the older registered refugee community (from 1992 and after), for the post-August 2017 arrivals. The kitchen receives support from UNHCR in the form of kitchen utensils, some fuel and 20% of their running costs. The other 80% is covered by the registered refugees themselves who collect donations from the refugee community, local mosques and the host community. © UNHCR/HECTOR PEREZ
Newly arrived Rohingya refugees at UNHCR’s Transit Centre queue up for a hot meal, cooked at the community kitchen in the centre.
The ACF project, funded by UNHCR, ensures that Rohingya families, who fled Myanmar, receive two hot meals a day. © UNHCR/Caroline Gluck
Based on the recent findings from the 3 ACF assessment results, we are seeing that the acute malnutrition rate is about above emergency threshold levels (GAM >15%). The nutrition sector is coordinating with all relevant partners to expand our programs and coverage area to reach as many vulnerable individuals as possible.
WFP has been rapidly expanding our blanket supplementary feeding programmes (BSFP) to prevent malnutrition in young children and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. The heath and water and sanitation sectors are also closely involved to prevent malnutrition.
“I used to plough my land with a spade. This will make it much easier,” said Ayesha Begum, 35, trying out the controls of a new mechanical power tiller provided under a joint programme by IOM and FAO to support agricultural livelihoods for local farmers in Cox’s Bazar where the arrival of 700, 000 Rohingya refugees in just a few months has had a significant impact on food prices and supplies. Ayesha’s machine is one of dozens of local farmers being given to 24 community agricultural associations in the Teknaf and Ukhiya sub-districts of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, as part of a USD 3 million programme by IOM and FAO to support agricultural livelihoods and forestry in the area. As well as power tillers, farmers involved in the project are receiving seeds to produce high-nutrient vegetables, such as spinach and amaranth. They are also receiving high-efficiency water pumps and organic fertilizer to reduce exposure to harmful chemicals. Through the programme, 500 local farming families will be supported to improve their livelihoods and provide nutritious food to the Rohingya refugee community, where people are largely reliant on food rations and malnutrition is rife. © Fiona MacGregor, IOM
"I'm in trouble for food for the children," says Setara Khatun, 27. "What they want I can't provide." A single mother since fleeing Myanmar, she’s now responsible for four children, and an elder, disabled aunt. Setara attends women’s groups at the Red Cross and Red Crescent community center at Tansimorkhola camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. “We talk a lot about how life is hard here, but we’re not running from violence,” says Setara. © Lynette Nyman, IFRC
Collecting Firewood is a huge issue in the camps, it exposes children to high protection issues, increases social tensions with local communities and it is estimated that the size of 4 football pitches are lost every month to deforestation. WFP, FAO, IOM and UNHCR is addressing the urgent cooking fuel needs of refugees and host communities, by introducing alternative clean cooking fuel and technology. © WFP/Saikat Mojumder
Nur Jahan (20) mother of two children and arrived in Bangladesh eight month ago from Myanmar. Now she living is BRAC village in Lombasia with her husband and children. She is one of the beneficiary of WFP general food distribution. Before she was collecting firewood for cooking from forest, now she cooks in a community kitchen with cylinder gas provided at BRAC community village in Lambasia. © WFP/Saikat Mojumder
Everyone has the right to food; “The human right to adequate food is recognized in several instruments under international law. The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights deals more comprehensively than any other instrument with this right”.