Saving The Vulnerable: WFP appeals for $320m for Bangladesh

Issuing a warning that Covid-19 threatens to reverse development gains made by Bangladesh in the last 50 years, World Food Programme has appealed for $320 million to help the most vulnerable.

"The World Food Programme, for its part, issued an urgent call for $320 million to provide food and cash transfers to the most vulnerable families in Bangladesh in the midst of the pandemic," said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, on Friday.

Some $200 million of this funding is required for the agency's Covid-19 response in Bangladesh and the remaining $120 million is needed to help the ethnic Rohingya for the next six months, according to the United Nations.

"Lockdowns and restrictions on movement are affecting livelihoods of millions across Bangladesh, especially daily wage earners like rickshaw drivers, day labourers who now find themselves unable to meet their basic needs," said WFP spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs.

Under WFP's scheme, the funding will ensure food security for families in rural areas and urban slums, as well as day labourers.

In the meantime, the UN agency has maintained national distributions of fortified rice, cash transfers and nutrition programmes, to complement government assistance.

It has also begun building storage areas for food and non-food items necessary for the Covid-19 response, including personal protective equipment, and is helping other humanitarian agencies by moving supplies into and around Bangladesh.

This coming August marks three years since the Rohingyas fled to Cox's Bazar escaping a violent persecution in Myanmar's Rakhine state.

After confirmation that the first cases of Covid-19 infection have been identified in overcrowded Rohingya camps in Cox's Bazar, UN humanitarians on Friday announced additional measures and appealed for funds to prevent the disease from spreading.

In Geneva, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson Andrej Mahecic relayed government confirmation that one Rohingya had tested positive for the new coronavirus in the Kutapalong settlement in Cox's Bazar, along with an individual from the local Bangladeshi host community on Thursday.

"There are serious concerns about the potentially severe impact of the virus in a densely populated refugee settlement, sheltering some 860,000 Rohingya refugees", he said, speaking via video conference.

"Another 400,000 Bangladeshis live in the surrounding host communities. These populations are considered to be among the most at risk globally in this pandemic."

CONCERTED UN ACTION

The UN agencies have already put in place a series of concerted Covid-19 contingency measures in Cox's Bazar, including the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

It has provided upgraded triage areas in 35 primary care facilities along with three isolation and treatment centres, said the UN.

Also nearing completion is a quarantine centre, large enough to accommodate 465 people and 250 beds for people suffering from severe acute respiratory infection.

The pandemic adds further pressure on extremely vulnerable individuals preparing for the approaching monsoon season.