Bangladesh — humanitarian situation

Bangladesh hosts approximately 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Cox's Bazar, the majority of whom fled violence in Myanmar beginning in 2017. WHO continues to support disease surveillance, outbreak response, and essential health services for approximately 1.1 million refugees and host community members, with priority areas including measles response, emergency preparedness, and immunization (WHO). The European Union has renewed its partnership with UNHCR through a EUR 14 million development grant to sustain life-saving assistance and strengthen protection for refugees and nearly 70,000 members of the host community (UNHCR). WFP provides food assistance to over 1.17 million refugees under a vulnerability-based targeting approach, alongside integrated nutrition, livelihoods, and resilience interventions (WFP). Beyond the refugee response, WFP supports nearly 3 million students through the national school feeding programme and reaches 2.6 million beneficiaries with fortified rice through the Vulnerable Women's Benefit programme (WFP). The Government of Bangladesh has committed to train and deploy 25,000 midwives across its public health system by 2030, addressing critical maternal and newborn health needs amid a global shortage of one million midwives (UNFPA). Turkish Red Crescent operates vocational training activities at Camp-5, with 80 trainees actively participating in skills development programmes (Turkish Red Crescent). A rapidly developing El Niño event poses new risks across Asia-Pacific, with forecasts indicating at least a moderate-strength event and strong event increasingly possible through 2026 and into early 2027. This arrives amid record global temperatures and follows years of climate-related shocks that have eroded community resilience (IASC, IFRC, OCHA). Gender-based violence risks are expected to increase as climate-related displacement and resource scarcity intensify existing vulnerabilities, particularly affecting women and girls in both refugee and host communities (GBV AoR, UNFPA). Global fuel and fertilizer disruptions from the ongoing Middle East crisis are impacting agricultural production and food security across the Asia-Pacific region (FAO, OCHA, WFP).