USAID has made an announcement to provide an additional $75 million in humanitarian assistance to help vulnerable Rohingya population in Cox’s Bazar and Bangladeshi host community meet ongoing needs that have been exacerbated by the increasing costs of food and fuel.

With this new funding, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will work with the United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) to provide critically needed food and nutrition assistance, infrastructure maintenance, disaster risk reduction, and logistics support.

The food and nutrition assistance includes electronic vouchers for staple and fresh foods at designated distribution sites as well as support to feeding programs for malnourished children six months to five years of age, and pregnant and lactating women.

These programs will target populations residing in 33 camps and 130 sites in the local Bangladeshi community. In addition, through disaster risk reduction programming, WFP will work with the community to maintain and improve public infrastructure within the camps.

Bangladesh hosts nearly one million Rohingyas. More than 774,000 were forced to flee their home in Burma’s Rakhine State six years ago after members of Burma’s military mounted a campaign of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other horrific atrocities and abuses against them.