Life-saving services at risk in Rohingya camps as aid shrinks
Oxfam warns deep funding shortages are already hitting water, sanitation, food and health services for nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh
DHAKA, Bangladesh (MNTV) — Life-saving services for nearly 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh are increasingly at risk as a deepening funding crisis forces humanitarian agencies to cut essential assistance, Oxfam has warned as the refugee crisis enters its 10th year.
The aid group said shortages were already affecting water and sanitation, food, healthcare and protection services in the sprawling refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, raising concerns that humanitarian systems built over nearly a decade could begin to unravel.
In a report released this week, Oxfam said donors provided only 46% of the $934.5 million sought for the Rohingya humanitarian response in 2025. The revised appeal for 2026 has been reduced to $710.5 million — 26% below last year’s request — and represents little more than what agencies say is needed to maintain basic life-saving assistance.
The pressure comes as the refugee population continues to grow. Bangladesh hosts nearly 1.2 million Rohingya, including about 150,000 who have crossed the border since early 2024 after fleeing renewed violence in Burma.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled a brutal military crackdown in Burma’s western Arakan state in 2017 and settled in camps around Cox’s Bazar. With safe and voluntary repatriation remaining elusive, what was initially designed as an emergency humanitarian operation has become a long-term system on which refugees depend for basic survival.
Oxfam warned that water and sanitation infrastructure is particularly vulnerable to further cuts. The humanitarian system in Cox’s Bazar now includes 298 water networks, 320 production boreholes, more than 7,000 water taps, nearly 49,500 latrines and 167 fecal sludge treatment plants.
But much of that infrastructure is aging and requires continuous maintenance, while dry-season water shortages, monsoon rains and shrinking budgets are increasing the danger of breakdowns.
Failure to maintain water quality, sewage treatment, waste collection and drainage could create wider public-health risks in the densely populated camps, particularly if disease outbreaks occur.
Women and girls face additional risks as services deteriorate. Oxfam said shortages of hygiene products and inadequate access to safe sanitation facilities were making daily life more difficult and could expose women to harassment and other protection risks, particularly at night.
One Rohingya woman in Teknaf told Oxfam that she was afraid to use facilities alone after dark because groups of boys sometimes gathered outside and made comments. She also said supplies of menstrual pads and soap had declined.
“The greatest danger is becoming accustomed to this crisis,” Oxfam Bangladesh Country Director Anil Pant said, warning that funding pressure now threatened systems developed over nearly a decade.
Oxfam urged international donors to provide predictable funding to prevent further deterioration of essential services while also supporting Bangladeshi communities hosting the refugees.
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