Crisis Overview
Bangladesh continues to show extraordinary generosity by hosting over one million Rohingya refugees from Myanmar, alongside some 640,000 Bangladeshis in Cox’s Bazar – one of the country’s poorest and most disaster-prone areas. Most refugees live in 33 camps within the world’s largest and most congested settlements, while around 30,000 reside on Bhasan Char Island.
Escalating conflict, persecution and instability in Myanmar’s Rakhine State since early 2024 have driven new displacement, with an estimated 130,000 Rohingya refugees arriving in 2025 and a further 35,000 expected in 2026. Despite regional efforts towards a political resolution to the Myanmar crisis that would facilitate the voluntary, dignified, and sustainable repatriation of Rohingya, conditions in Myanmar remain unconducive for return.
Despite significant government and partner efforts, humanitarian conditions in Cox’s Bazar are increasingly fragile. Some 83% of refugee households are highly vulnerable – especially women-led households and those with children – while 35% face food insecurity , and the same proportion lack any source of income. Among households with income, earnings are irregular, low and heavily reliant on aid-supported temporary work. Funding shortfalls in 2025 further reduced livelihood opportunities: only 65% of households reported some form of income compared to 73% in 2024 , while 35% do not have any income. Expanding pathways for refugee livelihoods, in line with government policies and host community needs, is critical to reducing aid dependency and enhancing resilience.
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
A refugee volunteer uses innovative LIME technology to build shelters that are stronger and more weather-resistant than traditional bamboo homes, reducing vulnerability to fire and improving safety.
ISCG/ IntoPositiveWhile the presence of law enforcement personnel and other gains in the de-escalation of conflict among the organized groups operating in the camps reduced the number of violent security incidents, serious protection risks, including robbery, extortion, abduction for ransom, human trafficking, and forced recruitment (including of youth), remain the reality of camp-life. Overcrowding and deteriorating socio-economic conditions heighten Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and child exploitation, while limited opportunities drive refugees towards harmful coping strategies such as child labour and marriage, as well as perilous maritime journeys.
Severe congestion, fragile shelters, and cyclical monsoon rains, cyclones, fires, and disease outbreaks threaten lives. Emergency preparedness, continuous vigilance and investment are crucial for maintaining living conditions and social cohesion between refugees and host communities. Sustained humanitarian support to meet the needs of the most vulnerable – complemented by development investment – remains essential for preserving dignity, maintaining social cohesion, and strengthening the resilience of refugees and host communities.
Response priorities and financial requirements for 2026
The Addendum to the Joint Response Plan (JRP) 2025/26 outlines priorities and financial requirements for 2026, building on significant adaptations introduced in 2025 in response to increasing population needs and decreasing humanitarian funding. While the five strategic objectives agreed with the Government of Bangladesh in the JRP 2025/26 remain the same, the 2026 approach sharpens the focus on essential, life-saving priorities delivered through a more integrated, cost-efficient and localized response model.
The global funding downturn has accelerated efforts to transform the Rohingya response. Key measures include integration of activities and services, rationalization and localization of partnerships, standardization of activity and service costs, as well as strengthened complementarity with development funds. Financial constraints also led to difficult but necessary cost reductions in staffing, coordination and operations.
Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
Leda Health Facility successfully performs its first caesarean section, marking a milestone in expanding specialized maternal care and reducing reliance on emergency referrals.
IOM / Dr. Ahsanul Kader KhanThe 2026 JRP envisions a streamlined, needs-based plan designed to sustain minimum humanitarian standards to protect and assist the most vulnerable through a more integrated and holistic one-camp approach. This approach builds on 2025 reforms to scale-up cost-reduction, consolidation, and rationalization efforts while introducing vulnerability-based prioritization. Due to funding constraints, vulnerability-based prioritization to general food assistance starting 1 January 2026 is already planned, together with other reductions in important humanitarian and resilience interventions across all sectors. In tandem, prioritization, calibrated levels of assistance/services and transformational approaches have reduced the 2026 appeal by over USD 250 million compared to the total 2025 funding requirements (JRP and flash appeal). Examples of ongoing holistic and transformational approaches in service modalities include the following:
- Health and Nutrition: Full integration of Nutrition and Health service delivery within common facilities (Primary Health Care) and combined community outreach has reduced costs through efficiencies in staffing, logistics, and supply chain efficiencies, while maintaining treatment coverage for severe and moderate acute malnutrition. Within the Health Sector, all running costs of primary health care facilities have been harmonized.
- Protection (GBV & Child Protection): Integrating specialized services at the field level has streamlined coordination, consolidated service delivery points, and harmonized referral systems, standardizing protection services while reducing management costs.
- Shelter / CCCM: Collaborative initiatives to promote a “one-camp approach” allow for standardized designs, shared maintenance systems, and joint procurement, lowering construction and operations costs. Rationalized staffing and localized maintenance teams further reduce the cost of meeting basic needs.
- Food Security: Programme optimization measures, such as the introduction of vulnerability-based prioritization of food assistance, and the integration of small-scale agriculture and homestead production activities, ensure targeted support to the most food-insecure households while optimizing resources.
- WASH: Harmonized designs, centralized procurement of supplies, and optimized desludging operations have reduced per-capita delivery costs despite population growth.
- Education: Higher teacher-to-student ratios, phased material distribution, and shared learning spaces with host communities have lowered operational costs while sustaining access to learning.
- Livelihoods and Skills Development (LSDS): Consolidated training modules and closer alignment with development projects maintain self-reliance opportunities with reduced expenditure.
Together, these measures have created a more integrated, localized, and cost-efficient model, preserving critical services and mitigating risk at a time of significant resource scarcity.
The 2026 JRP targets 1.56 million individuals (1.25m Rohingya and 307k host community members), with 1.27 million prioritized for life-saving and critical assistance. The total financial requirement stands at $698.4 million, including $567.5 million prioritized for life-saving and critical activities. Sustained international solidarity and complementary investments from international financial institutions and other development actors remain vital to preserving stability, resilience, and dignity for both refugees and host communities.
2025 in review: Response highlights and consequences of inaction
Response highlights
Food Security | Cox’s Bazar
1,045,298 refugees were reached with lifesaving food assistance while resilience activities such as crop agricultural support (homestead gardening) reached 58,273 refugee households and 5,723 host community households.
Health | Cox’s Bazar
2,840,252 health consultations were undertaken, 177,222 children were vaccinated, and 16,025 infants (12,025 refugees and 4,000 host communities) were delivered in safe facilities.
Nutrition | Cox’s Bazar
6,068 children under 5 years old with severe acute malnutrition were newly admitted for treatment in the refugee camps.
WASH | Cox’s Bazar
2,382 latrine facilities (572 in the refugee camps and 1810 in host communities) were constructed and/or upgraded, while 51,787 latrine facilities were regularly operated and maintained.
SCCCM | Cox’s Bazar
Shelter reinforcement assistance was provided to 45,993 households, LPG assistance to 217,770 households, emergency shelter assistance to 44,896 households, and non-food items distributed to 6,900 households.
Protection | Cox’s Bazar
Protection programming included continuous registration and documentation of 1,143,096 refugees, while 1,074,522 people (refugees and host community members) were reached with awareness raising activities, key protection messaging and mitigation measures on non-violence.
11,270 children received specialized child protection service through case management (9,769 refugees and 1,501 from host communities).
390,504 individuals (321,830 refugees and 68,674 from host communities) were engaged in structured GBV prevention activities to transform social norms.
Education | Cox’s Bazar
325,578 learners were enrolled in 6,532 learning facilities across 33 refugee camps and in 188 schools in the host communities.
LSDS | Cox’s Bazar
Following accelerated adult learning, technical, life-skills, and vocational training, 1,317 trained refugees were referred to Sectors to engage in volunteer activities.
Food Security | Bhasan Char
Approximately 31,000 (average) individuals received monthly food assistance through regular rations, hot meals, and the E-voucher program, covering all 64 occupied clusters on Bhasan Char.
Health and Nutrition | Bhasan Char
115,796 clinical consultations were conducted; 548 infants were delivered with support from skilled birth attendants; 1,753 children were treated for severe and moderate malnutrition; 1,626 beneficiaries received psychosocial support.
WASH | Bhasan Char
A total of 30,874 refugees received WASH services, including soap and water purifying tablets.
8754 women and girls received menstrual hygiene kits.
SMS/Shelter/NFI | Bhasan Char
38,665 LPG refills provided; total 1,117 communal kitchens using biogas as a supplementary fuel source were operational, benefiting 2,206 families.
3,810 households benefited from minor electrical connection maintenance and 8,664 households through battery maintenance.
Protection | Bhasan Char
Through continuous registration, population data and biometrics were updated for 16,806 individuals, and 3,198 family attestation documents were issued.
4,530 refugees participated in GBV awareness raising sessions on multiple GBV and SRHR matters.
Child protection case management was conducted for 1,609 cases and 3,989 children and caregivers received structured and unstructured psychosocial support.
Education | Bhasan Char
11,200 children and adolescents were newly enrolled in primary and secondary school during 2025-26 academic year for Myanmar Curriculum.
60 upper primary level (Grace 3-5) teachers completed the Myanmar Curriculum subject knowledge and pedagogy training.
LSDS | Bhasan Char
5830 refugees received on farm training on various topics covering agriculture, aquaculture, fishing, etc.
7000 refugee households received agricultural inputs, and 46 businesses owned by refugees received business development support.
Common Services and Logistics | Bhasan Char
450 metric tons of food and other essential commodities were transported to Bhasan Char.
Consequences of funding cuts
In 2025, humanitarian partners continued to deliver life-saving assistance and essential services for Rohingya refugees and host communities despite deepening funding shortfalls. Reduced resources resulted in significant cuts to staffing and coordination, and difficult decisions to deprioritize key activities. Over one million refugees remained reliant on humanitarian support for their multi-sectoral needs, while 130,000 new arrivals strained already overstretched infrastructure and services.
There were significant disruptions in education for young learners, as prolonged underfunding led to closures of 43% of learning facilities and disrupted teaching material distribution including textbooks, leaving over 190,000 children without education. The consequences of lack of education go beyond lost learning: without safe spaces to learn, children, especially adolescents, face heightened protection risks such as child recruitment, exploitation, child marriage, hazardous forms of child labour and physical and sexual abuse. Girls, already too often left behind, face heightened risks.
Despite the near-imminent food pipeline breaks, prioritization enabled maintaining a 100% food ration for the Rohingya population in 2025. Yet, reduced investment in agriculture, fisheries, and community-based livelihoods weakened food production, gender equity, and self-reliance, increasing negative coping mechanisms, deepening aid dependency and constraining recovery.
Health, Nutrition and WASH partners continued to provide critical care and essential services; however, chronic shortages of medicines, staff, diagnostics, and medical supplies—combined with reduced water availability, uncollected waste, and poor sanitation—limited-service capacity and planning, increasing the risk of disease outbreaks and heightening public health concerns.
Bangladesh
A Rohingya adolescent girl holds an awareness booklet during a protection session focused on rights and personal safety.
IOM/ Hossain Ahammod MasumShelter and Camp Coordination partners only reinforced some vulnerable shelters, and underfunding and land restrictions left many families – especially new arrivals - in unsafe and overcrowded structures. Delayed drainage maintenance and slope stabilization increased risks from flash floods and landslides, placing thousands of households at risk. Reduced Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) could force households to resort to firewood collection, accelerating deforestation and exposing women and girls to protection risks.
Declining humanitarian assistance resulted in heightened protection risks for the Rohingya, with protection services strained by increased needs. While registration, GBV, and child protection services were sustained, resource constraints meant lower-risk cases were de-prioritized, and limited outreach, legal aid, and psychosocial support placed survivors and persons with disabilities at greater risk. Deteriorating camp conditions presented continuous and serious risks, especially for females and children/youth.
Reductions in Livelihoods and Skills Development programmes sharply curtailed adult learning, vocational training, and income opportunities, undermining self-reliance and prolonging aid dependency. This lack of investment directly impacted adolescents and youth, with 72% of youth feeling they lacked avenues for contribution and leadership.
While underfunding in 2025 resulted in significant gaps in basic assistance and services, particularly for new refugee arrivals, the dire funding outlook for 2026 risks significant deterioration of well-being and loss of life in the Rohingya camps, unsafe onward movements, and reversal of fragile gains in resilience and social stability. Sustaining minimum humanitarian assistance, while continuing to explore opportunities for resilience and solutions are essential to prevent regional instability and largescale suffering.
A Win-Win Approach to Menstrual Hygiene Kits: reusable sanitary pads enhance livelihoods of refugee women
Menstrual health and hygiene are essential for protecting dignity, building confidence, and strengthening sexual and reproductive health. In the world’s largest refugee camp, ensuring access to quality menstrual hygiene products is critical for Rohingya women and girls.
Previously, hygiene materials were produced by various international sources, resulting in inconsistent quality, high costs, and unequal distribution. To address this, the WASH and LSDS introduced an innovative, cost-effective solution: Rohingya refugees now locally produce reusable menstrual pads and underwear within the camps, which partners purchase to ensure harmonized quality and distribution.
In 2025, this model saved approximately $2.5 million, while promoting livelihood and environmental sustainability. Beyond improving access to menstrual hygiene, the initiative empowered over 600 Rohingya refugee women who contribute to the production process under the Volunteer Framework agreed with the Government of Bangladesh. Commenting on her improved self-reliance, Zaida, a Rohingya volunteer, shared, “from my earnings, I buy clothes, groceries, and cover the expenses of my daughters and parents.”
Building on this success, the WASH and Livelihoods Sectors now plan to expand the model to include local soap production, further strengthening localization, self-reliance and community wellness.
References
- The Rohingya population on Bhasan Char has steadily decreased since 2023; thus, the planning figure will be updated as required in 2026 JRP to accurately reflect the actual population size.
- REVA-8 (Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment), WFP, June 2025
- REVA-8 (Refugee Influx Emergency Vulnerability Assessment), WFP, June 2025
- ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025
- ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2024 & 2025
- ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025
- ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025
- The strategic objectives of JRP 2025/26 are: 1) Work towards the sustainable and voluntary repatriation of Rohingya refugees/FDMNs to Myanmar; 2) Strengthen the protection and resilience of Rohingya refugees/ FDMN women, men, girls and boys; 3) Deliver life-saving assistance to populations in need; 4) Foster the well-being of host communities; and 5) Strengthen disaster risk management and combat the effects of climate change.
- ISNA (Inter Sector Needs Assessment), ISCG, September 2025