Dhaka: Rohingya mothers in refugee camps in Bangladesh say they fear for the fate of their already malnourished children as their food rations are set to be halved from next month.
The UN World Food Program announced earlier this week that “severe funding shortfalls” would mean that the monthly food allowance for refugees would be cut from $12.50 to $6 per person.
The new daily ration will equal 24 Bangladeshi taka — the price of two eggs in the market. A single thin flatbread costs around 8 taka, while one liter of milk costs at least 80.
Refugees estimate that, at current costs, the most food that WFP vouchers will allow them to buy each month is 10 kilograms of rice, 1.5 kg of lentils and 500 grams of salt.
Uzala Bibi, a mother of two living in a camp in Cox’s Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh — the world’s biggest refugee settlement — told Arab News she was in “deep fear” over the situation her family will face from next month.
“I will be unable to feed my children,” she said. “How will my children survive on only rice and lentils?”
The WFP’s announcement left Bangladeshi authorities dumbfounded, with the government’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commission observing that malnutrition in the camps already ranges from “severe acute” to “moderate acute” levels.
“The situation will further deteriorate with the budget cut, weakening the immunity of the Rohingya population and leading to a rise in infectious and waterborne diseases ... The Rohingya will not be able to survive,” said Dr. Abu Toha Md. Rizuanul Haque Bhuiyan, the commission’s health coordinator.
“It is absurd and beyond imagination how anyone can prepare a diet plan with just 24 taka per day. We are at a loss for what to do, and our office is deeply concerned about the situation.”
More than 1.3 million Rohingya are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar, where they have limited access to job opportunities and education.
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s. Since then, many have fled to Bangladesh, with about 700,000 arriving in 2017, after a military crackdown that the UN has been referring to as a “textbook case” of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
International aid for the Rohingya community has been dropping over the years — particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. But the current funding gap is unprecedented.
A previous temporary round of ration cuts to Rohingya in 2023, which reduced monthly food rations from $12 to $8, led to a sharp increase in hunger and malnutrition, Bhuiyan said.
“With half of the food budget now cut, our health-sector budget is also being squeezed ...
I can’t imagine how we will cope with this situation, or what strategies should be taken to address it.”
Hason Begum, a refugee mother of five, said she had no idea how she will manage to feed her family.
“To me, it’s completely unimaginable that a person could survive on just 24 taka per day when a single egg costs 12 taka. I am forced to serve plain rice three times a day,” she said.
“My children are already suffering from malnutrition, and the situation will become unbearable next month,” she added. “How can a mother endure the pain of watching her children starve? Sometimes, I feel it would be better to embrace death.”
