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Humanitarian Action for Children 2021 - Bangladesh - Revision 1 (July 2021)

Countries
Bangladesh
+ 1 more
Sources
UNICEF
Publication date

HIGHLIGHTS

Bangladesh faces three overlapping humanitarian emergencies. Over 884,000 Rohingya refugees living in Cox’s Bazar District are highly dependent on international aid. A densely populated country, Bangladesh is experiencing a significant COVID-19 pandemic, in addition, millions of families are vulnerable to floods and cyclones. UNICEF Humanitarian Action is in line with the 2021 Joint Response Plan (JRP) and the Bangladesh Preparedness Response Plan (BPRP) for COVID-19.

In refugee camps, UNICEF and partners will provide health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), education, including introduction of the Myanmar curriculum for Rohingya children, child protection and gender-based violence services at scale. Across the country,
UNICEF will support the Government to prepare for and respond to humanitarian needs.

UNICEF is appealing for US$ 203.6 million in 2021 to support COVID-19 prevention and treatment, to continue vital health, nutrition, and WASH services in Bangladesh and to address unmet critical needs of the Rohingya refugees in the camps.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION AND NEEDS

Three years after extreme violence in Rakhine State, Myanmar, sparked a massive refugee influx into Bangladesh, there are 884,041 Rohingya refugees living in 34 congested camps in Cox’s Bazar District.

To date, conditions for their safe and voluntary return to Myanmar have not been achieved. With increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the camps, it is essential that treatment facilities, masks and accurate information are widely available.

On 22 March 2021, a massive fire in three refugee camps left 37,078 individuals temporarily displaced.
The primary and secondary impacts of COVID-19 have compromised access to health and nutrition services for Rohingya refugees, reversing some of the gains made in the past. Before the closure of learning centres in March 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions, 80 per cent of Rohingya boys and 76 per cent of Rohingya girls aged 6 to 14 years were accessing education.

Child protection sub-sector partners are reporting increased levels of violence against children, gender-based violence and psychosocial distress. With deteriorating COVID19 situation, since April 2021 access to the camps has been restricted to critical services only, and adolescent girls and people with disabilities are least likely to access the services they need.

As of 17 July 2021, Bangladesh had the 28th highest caseload of COVID-19 globally with 1,092,411 confirmed cases, including 17,669 deaths. The pandemic has had a major impact on the economy and is overwhelming health and nutrition services. There were already too few health workers before the pandemic (8.3 health workers per 10,000 people, compared with 45 per 10,000 recommended by the World Health Organization)12. Constrained access to health and nutrition services could lead to higher acute malnutrition rates by 14 per cent.

2021 real gross domestic product is projected at 5 per cent. Increased poverty will create an additional barrier to children's rights. Children from vulnerable households, report lower levels of access to alternative learning modalities. In a country where 45 million children are subjected to violent discipline, violence against women and children, including gender-based violence, has increased by an estimated 31 per cent during the pandemic.

In addition to these vulnerabilities, the population is at risk of recurrent monsoon and cyclonerelated disasters exacerbated by climate change. In 2020, one quarter of the country was flooded, affecting 5.4 million people.